


I've Got a Secret That Nobody Knows

by StarReader2013



Category: Suicide Squad (2016), The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: Crossover, Drama, F/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-12
Updated: 2017-12-18
Packaged: 2018-08-08 06:02:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 8
Words: 20,983
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7745953
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StarReader2013/pseuds/StarReader2013
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Elena's life has been hell for the past year. She and her friends have dealt with vampires, werewolves, & witches. They have all loved & lost because of it. But turns out she's lost more than she thought. More than she can even remember. Because she doesn't. Lately, she's been experiencing changes & confusing memories. Elena only has one main question though: who's the mysterious figure in her dreams?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> I just watched Suicide Squad in the theaters and I loved it, especially the Joker. Ever since watching the movie, I've been desperately searching for fan fiction stories from all sorts of platforms. I've finally decided to do a sort of story on the Joker. Anyone who follows me and has read my other stories will notice that I have a sort of pattern of trying to combine two different but somewhat similar worlds.
> 
> After much thought, I thought I'd do a sort of crossover with Vampire Diaries but the main focus being the TVD universe because I'm no DC fanatic. I feel I have more control and knowledge if the setting is more familiar for me. This story is more Joker/Elena although Elena might be a bit OC because I'm sort of melding her story with Harley Quinn's. Believe me, I love Margot Robbie's Harley Quinn but I wanted to pair the Joker with some sort of OC, even though it's Elena.
> 
> Kicking off this story, just to give you guys some background so you're not lost. This story starts us off after TVD season 2 before season 3. As this story goes on, the relationship between the Joker and Elena will be revealed. Plus I'll be adding my own personal twists as to how the Joker became who he is in the TVD universe. But of course I'll do my best to keep what makes the Joker, the Joker if you know what I mean.
> 
> WARNING! Spoilers up ahead if you haven't watched suicide squad yet!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just watched Suicide Squad in the theaters and I loved it, especially the Joker. Ever since watching the movie, I’ve been desperately searching for fan fiction stories from all sorts of platforms. I’ve finally decided to do a sort of story on the Joker. Anyone who follows me and has read my other stories will notice that I have a sort of pattern of trying to combine two different but somewhat similar worlds.
> 
> After much thought, I thought I’d do a sort of crossover with Vampire Diaries but the main focus being the TVD universe because I’m no DC fanatic. I feel I have more control and knowledge if the setting is more familiar for me. This story is more Joker/Elena although Elena might be a bit OC because I’m sort of melding her story with Harley Quinn’s. Believe me, I love Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn but I wanted to pair the Joker with some sort of OC, even though it’s Elena.
> 
> Kicking off this story, just to give you guys some background so you’re not lost. This story starts us off after TVD season 2 before season 3. As this story goes on, the relationship between the Joker and Elena will be revealed. Plus I’ll be adding my own personal twists as to how the Joker became who he is in the TVD universe. But of course I’ll do my best to keep what makes the Joker, the Joker if you know what I mean.
> 
> WARNING! Spoilers up ahead if you haven’t watched suicide squad yet!

_"Would you die for me?"_

_The question is the first thing I hear when I open my eyes but all I see is darkness. Although I do not understand the situation, I answer the voice nonetheless unknowing of my answer._

_"Yes." I speak with no hesitation._

_For a moment, confusion hits me as I wonder as to why I would respond in such a way._

_"That's too easy … Would you live for me?" The voice challenges me._

_"Yes."_

_My mouth parts in surprise as I realize the implications of what the voice just asked of me. To live for them would be to withstand the struggles of life alongside one another._

_"Careful. Do not say this oath thoughtlessly." The voice stresses it's point on the last word. "Desire becomes surrender, surrender becomes power."_

_The dark figure standing before me reaches out towards me. I can see the outline of their hand before it gently covers my mouth. It slowly drops it's hand down from my lips, my heart is racing by now as I feel the sudden heat and warmth from the darkness._

_"Do you want this?" It asks me, running one of its fingers on my lower lip._

_I open my mouth but everything blurs away into nothing before I could answer._

Elena rubbed her eyes, her elbows resting on top of the table at The Mystic Grill. A few weeks ago her boyfriend Stefan was swept away from her after making a deal with Klaus to save Damon from a werewolf bite. Since then, she and Damon have been trying to search for him.

She sighs as she tries to recall her dream. Her very vague and annoying dream that will not go away. She must be losing it already after having recently lost three people in her life. Elena stops rubbing her eyes to rest them on her forehead with her head down. It's … peculiar. One would think that she would be more hurt and guilty by the thought that just came to her mind but she's not … which weirded her out.

"Hey, I got your message," the sound of Caroline's voice entered Elena's space at which she lifts her head to blearily look at the young blonde vampire that is one of her childhood best friends. The vampire winces a bit at the sight of her obviously tired friend and asks sympathetically, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah. Umm. I'm good. Dealing but I'm getting there." Elena is grateful to see Caroline and she is happy to have a distraction from all of her cryptic dreams.

The two of them talk for a while before Caroline is called away by Tyler. Lately, those two have been hanging around each other more. After Caroline's fall out with Matt, Elena is happy to see her friend have some happiness.

Elena blinks as her eyesight starts going fuzzy. She shuts her eyes and reopens them numerous times but to her panic, nothing changes. Elena stands up and out of her seat except the first step she makes, her world tilts and her eyes shut again. She blindly grabs onto whatever came into reach, uncaring to the clattering noises only focused on the whisper came in her ear.

"Would you live for me?"

The call of her name snaps her out of her head and Elena peels her eyes open to see her younger brother Jeremy holding onto her in concern. She smiles weakly at him, covering his hand on her shoulder with her hand.

"I'm okay, Jer." Elena reassures him and Jeremy looks into her eyes as if examining her for any lies.

"Are you sure? You don't look so good, Lena."

"I'm fine. I just need some rest." Waving off her brother's worries, Elena staggers a bit out of The Mystic Grill.

Once Elena feels the wind brush against her skin, she only makes a few more steps before grasping on to one of the unoccupied outdoor chairs. She sighs in relief as her dizziness and fuzziness faded away. Ever since the sacrifice, she hasn't been feeling like herself and her family and friends just began to notice. But her episodes have only worsened as time passes and her dreams becomes clearer; yet, at the same time, it's like her dreams are telling her that she isn't ready to know the reason behind her dreams.

Deciding against her initial decision to go back home, Elena takes a walk around town. She wanders aimlessly, lost in her thoughts of trying to decipher her dreams. Her hand twitches subconsciously and Elena looks at said hand. After all the trouble she's currently going through, one would think that her twitching is another side effect she's been having since the sacrifice.

Actually, she's had twitches since her parent's car accident. Elena never understood as to why but doctors have told her that her tremors are signs of trauma since she was the only one who survived the accident. It's all mental stuff that she's had trouble understanding because her tremors still occur after having dealt with her parent's death. Once school had ended that year, Elena left town to get better treatment.

She doesn't completely remember what happened that summer, so consumed with grief and depression from her loss that it impaired her memory somewhat. Elena didn't think twice about that summer after returning to Mystic Falls. All she could think about is moving on and doing her best to help her brother, who she found out was still doing drugs at the time.

Elena slows down her footsteps and tilts her head to the sound of hard thuds, loud clinks, and short yells. She turns her head to look at the building beside her. After examining the contents inside, Elena takes a few steps back to look back at the name of the building and realizes this was the town gym. She tries to see more closely of what's going on inside through window but she's only able to make out some figures and a front desk but nothing clearly. Her curiosity takes over and Elena moves over to the entrance, walking inside the building.

The sounds she initially heard came at her louder and looks over to where it is originating from. She sees two men in a boxing ring, sparring. Suddenly time slows before her eyes along with the fighters in the ring and now Elena sees the calculated movements of each fighter. Her eyes sharpened and her lips part as exhilaration fills her, unknowing that her hand starts to twitch. She doesn't notice until the last moment that she has moved closer to the ring.

"Hey, mind if I join in?" A voice calls out and the fighters stop, turning to look at Elena. She realizes it was her who spoke and to her surprise, she didn't mind. All she knows is that she wants a piece of the action even though it hasn't caught up to her yet that she doesn't know how to fight.

They were hesitant along with their trainer but after some persuasion, they allowed her to fight. A short while later after changing into the gym clothes and equipment the trainer gave her, she exits the changing room with her hair pulled up. She stretches her muscles to warm up before Elena jumps into the ring. The trainer wanted to go easy on her with one fighter but Elena insisted on going up against two instead. Eventually the trainer gave in to her demands, seeing how stubborn she is on the matter.

Moments later the trainer and just about anyone in the gym is left gaping at Elena, who gets out of the boxing ring unscathed while the two trained fighters she went up against are left exhausted on the floor. A satisfied smile is on full display on her face as Elena walks into the women's changing room. Who knew that fighting can be so much fun?

She was taking off the gym clothes and gloves the trainer provided for her when Elena's movements came to a halt. Suddenly the high she was on from fighting died down and reality settled within her of what she has done. Slowly she raises her hands closer to her face as they begin to shake. For once Elena wishes at that moment that her shaking is caused by her mental trauma.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What do you think? So far, I think we’re up to a good start. 
> 
> R&R please! With constructive criticism as always.


	2. Chapter Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay, another chapter in less than a week!
> 
> I thought I’d give some time to evaluate how much traffic this story gets before posting this chapter. After reading the first chapter again to understand & see from a reader’s POV, I can see why there aren’t a lot of followers on this story after just one chapter since the previous chapter was short on details and a bit rushed. Just like me who excitedly put up this story after only a day of just writing the first chapter alone. Though I’m glad that there are some of you who are interested to see where I’m going with this story.
> 
> I hope more readers are drawn because of this chapter and future chapters I’ll be posting. I feel like I’m really focusing on detail right now rather than dialogue so bear with me for those of you who wants more dialogue. I want to try and blend characteristics so that I have a better idea of what certain characters would say in certain situations.
> 
> Enjoy!

Punches are flying through the air only to come in contact with a hanging training bag. It’s been a few more weeks since that day at the town gym. Not long after her little show at the gym, rumors started circulating around her like crazy. Elena Gilbert can kick ass. Good thing no one knows that it was her that day at the gym. Everyone in town believes it was some random high schooler. Although she fears where these new developments are coming from, Elena can’t help but feel relieved. Now she can defend herself and at the rate she’s going, she’ll be able to fight vampires up front.

Beads of sweat is built upon her forehead the more she trains in the dark room that was once Alaric’s apartment since he started living with her and Jeremy at their home. Glints of sunlight enters the room and pools over the rapid moving woman. Her once tan skin has considerably paled in contrast to the sunlight. Her hair that which was a gorgeous darkest brown, now shows a more noticeable dark red that shines brightly against the sun rays.

After having the rush of fighting that day at the gym, Elena worked endlessly with Alaric to figure out a workout routine for her. Especially what with whatever is happening to her has given her more benefits than consequences so far. If there ever comes a day where she fights by instinct, it would be difficult to explain to her friends how she’s capable of fighting when she barely knows basic self-defense. At least this way people will believe that she’s well-trained should a conflict arise. It was hard to feign off Alaric’s confusion and suspicion over how quickly she caught on to training. Thankfully, it was normal for Alaric nowadays to be more interested in drinking since the death of her Aunt Jenna which helped distract him. Elena admits to feeling some guilt over using her dear guardian but she doesn’t want anyone to know what’s going on with her any time soon.

Elena stops punching the training bag, finding herself a bit irritated. Her thoughts sent back to the dream she’s had the past few nights.

_She was walking through a hall that had nothing but grey. Grey walls, grey floors, even the patients in the building wore grey uniforms all except for the guards and doctors in the building, who wore black uniforms and the custom white coat. Elena followed behind her doctor, cringing at the loud noises the inhabitants are making. She had just arrived in Gotham City, New Jersey via train. Gotham City is the most dangerous city to live in from what she has researched online. There are so many crimes happening in that city that there’s a rumor that the city is run by criminals which turned to out to be false. Nearly half a decade or so ago, the crime rate in Gotham City started to decline as rogue vigilantes appeared to save the day. Though she feels the vigilantes are a bit sketchier than the villains since they all go by codenames._

_Elena was one of the few patients in the building that still has their sanity in Arkham Asylum. Arkham Asylum is notorious for housing the criminally insane but what most people don’t know is that Arkham Asylum is still a place for treatment which is why she’s here. Elena wants to get treated for her hand tremors that even after several CAT scans, many doctors didn’t find anything physically wrong with her. Not even the local therapists in Virginia could help her. They all thought her hand tremors could be healed by accepting her parent’s death but that didn’t work either. Just when Elena was about to snap after receiving the same and repetitive diagnosis, one of her doctors suggested a doctor at Arkham._

_Although, he did warn her about the possible dangers she might come across and people she might face but Elena took up his advice and called the doctor he recommended. Thankfully, Arkham has a joint treatment program for mysterious cases like her hand tremors. Her Aunt Jenna tried to stop her from going when she heard about Gotham City’s reputation as well as Arkham Asylum’s. But Elena needed this and she reassured her aunt that everything was going to be fine._

_She can hear the doctor talking to her, giving her an overview of special protocols for her to follow so that no mishaps occur between herself and other patients particularly the insane ones. Unfortunately, patients like herself have to pass through the cells of said criminally insane to get through the area made for treatments. Even though Elena has her fears after hearing stories of the people kept in the hospital, she tries to get a glimpse of some inmates. Her eyes widen a bit as some leer and jeer at her while others are stuck in their own world of crazy._

_Suddenly, her doctor came to a halt and Elena almost bumped into her in the process. But before she could speak up, her doctor has moved them off to the side. Her gaze falls upon a group of guards, leading someone down the hall – and to their cell, she assumes. Understanding dawns on her that this must be another patient falling under the insane category of the asylum. As the guards came closer, she was given an opportunity to see the patient they were escorting. Elena keeps her head down, not wanting to attract attention but she couldn’t help herself. Her eyes flickered up and caught a pair of piercing, greyish-blue eyes._

_Her breath got caught in her throat and a shiver runs up and down her spine. She was fascinated as the patient is a unique character. Elena has never seen someone like him before. Although he’s kept in a straitjacket that didn’t stop her evaluation on his physical appearance. His pale skin makes a stark contrast to the tattoos on his face and she a hint of another tattoo peeking out underneath the straitjacket. The dark circles around his eyes has them appear more sunken in at which Elena realizes that he has no eyebrows. But the teenager didn’t mind. She found that his lack of eyebrows didn’t take away the draw she feels toward him. Also, his lips are the darkest shade of red she’s seen on anyone. She wonders if the man wore makeup but she doubted it which levels up her interest in the man._

_He stares back at her the whole time as he comes closer and closer, his eyes glinting devilishly. She doesn’t realize it but her mouth parts as if breathless at the sight of him. His mouth curls into a smile revealing his teeth grill and her grip tightens around the strap of her duffel bag as her heart threatens to burst out of her chest. She snaps her mouth shut to withhold her gasp and a warmth wash over her. It’s only after he walks pass her form that his intense gaze leaves her. But Elena is frozen in place, left staring at a grey wall. She’s replaying the look she just shared with the man and she gulps back the saliva that built in her mouth. She snaps out of her thoughts as the voice of her doctor tells her to follow her at which Elena acts as instructed._

_The two of them walk towards one end of the hall where it was highly secured if the password encrypted door and guards standing by it were anything to go by. As the doctor entered the password, Elena made one last glance over her shoulder. She manages to see the back of his head full of green hair before hurriedly turning back around in case her doctor notices. Elena follows her doctor through the door unknowing of the piercing eyes that followed her form as the owner of said eyes turned down a corner of the hall._

The dream confounded her because it took place in Arkham Asylum and she would have mistaken the dream as a memory if it wasn’t for the fact that she doesn’t remember meeting that green haired patient on her first day at Arkham. She tried searching the internet when she woke up from that dream a second time. That man must be a criminal if he was incarcerated in Arkham like in her dream. Elena wanted to verify for herself whether or not the man is real. But when she went to type on her computer, her hands froze above the keyboard. Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion and she tried to move her fingers again with no success. She would do this at irregular intervals the rest of the day and the next, certain that she was losing her mind but the same cycle of her frozen fingers continued.

She doesn’t understand what’s going on with her but at this point, she is sure that something didn’t want her to find out the identity of that man. Elena may not know much of what’s happening to her but her guess is that man means something to her. Whether it was good or bad doesn’t mean much to her as it would have before she lost Stefan, who is still god knows where. Despite her personal issues that she’s currently dealing with, Elena is still searching for her boyfriend but has only been able to catch the tail of Klaus’s victims. Although she hasn’t admitted it to herself yet, there is a small chance that Klaus could be forcing Stefan to create such carnage. She shook her head to push those thoughts out of her head.

Elena gathers her stuff and leaves Alaric’s apartment with another bag filled with more training weapons such as guns and knives. Another thing she’s gotten into is knife throwing and shooting guns. Throwing knives was a bit difficult to learn but she’s getting better with her aim thanks to watching some videos on YouTube. Who knew you can learn how to throw knives via the internet? Now the gun shooting was interesting. Elena used a shotgun once before as well as a makeshift stake gun but she managed to get a hold on some of Alaric’s hand guns a while ago. She bought some shooting targets and pinned them onto tree trunks in the woods a while ago. Surprisingly her aim wasn’t as bad as her knife throwing. But what was even weirder is that the weight of a gun in her hand felt familiar, comforting in some ways.

But right now she’s not on her way to practice her aim in the woods. That’s on her to-do list for tomorrow. She’s making her way towards the Salavatore boarding house to check on Damon, who has not been as involved for the search for Stefan as she’d like which is making her slightly suspicious. Plus, she needs to be at the boarding house anyway before Caroline arrives. Rather prepare herself for what’s to come from her neurotic friend when it comes to planning Elena’s eighteenth birthday party.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’ve decided that I don’t think I’ll write out complete TVD episodes because I feel like that’ll take away the focus of the story that is Elena’s journey of self-discovery along with her relationship with the Joker. Maybe I’ll write scenes from certain TVD episodes but only those that’ll make impact on the character and her mysterious transition into who she was while with the Joker.
> 
> Also, I’m trying to come up with some ideas for Elena’s criminal name. I’m trying research on it because I don’t want to use “Harley Quinn”. It was unique for that character but not for the character I’m making for Elena. But I’m coming up blanks of what Elena’s criminal name should be. If anyone has a suggestion, leave me a comment.


	3. Chapter Three

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, guys! I’m back!
> 
> One of you guys said in a review/comment how it is hard to tell what’s real and what’s a dream. I like how that person phrased it because I think in a way that is what I was kind of going for though I didn’t realize it for myself. As I said before in the first chapter, Elena is taking Harley’s place at the Joker’s side. It might not be as obvious in the previous chapters, but Elena is not just changing physically but mentally as well. Therefore, her sanity is questionable. I’m sort of reflecting her change in my writing which is why I don’t include breaks between present day and Elena’s dreams slash memories. Overall, I just had to mention that because I actually felt a bit happy by the reviewer/commentator so thank you! Hearing you say that while also you’re still intrigued by my story makes me happy to hear what you had to say!
> 
> In this chapter, there aren’t going to be a lot of memories because I think the focus should be how Elena is handling her changes and how she’s utilizing them in the present. So you guys are going to see some familiar scenes from TVD right now. Also, I have a hint at what a future chapter is going to be about at the end of this one. So keep reading till the end to find out!

Elena walks up to Alaric with a victorious smile on her face. Thanks to Tyler, they now have a lead on where Stefan is heading. Last night on her birthday, Stefan called her phone. She had Liz Forbes trace the call which was last in Tennessee. After finding out that she might be able to catch up to him and that tonight is a full moon, Elena figured that Tyler might know possible locations a pack resides in Tennessee since Klaus and Stefan are tracking werewolves.

She slides into the seat next to Alaric, who takes a sip of alcohol before turning to her.

“Did you get anything?” he asks and she crosses her arms, placing them on top of the bar.

“How do you feel about a little hike through the Smokey Mountains?” Instead of answering his question, Elena responds with a question of her own. Alaric stares at her blankly for a second as if she’s lost her mind. Which Elena believes to be ironic since in a way she has lost her former self.

“You want to hunt down a pack of werewolves on a full moon,” he says in disbelief. Elena tsks, tilting her head to give her history teacher an exasperated look.

“We’ll be out of there before the moon is full,” she counters him. The man sighs, bringing his hand to massage his temples.

Under this situation, an outsider would see that she was doing this just for the sake of helping Stefan escape Klaus. But that’s the old Elena. Although this new version of herself does care for Stefan, she’s not as fearful as she would be of getting hurt. Whereas the old Elena would feel some fear of running into Klaus or a transformed werewolf. There is a new confidence that she hasn’t felt before this past summer. Not even when her parents were still alive. Some people may call her arrogant or that she’s getting ahead of herself now that she knows how to defend herself. But she doesn’t see it that way. It’s hard to explain because she’s not sure what’s happening to her or why she’s changing. One thing for sure though: right now, she’s not afraid.

Seeing how Alaric feels about her offer to go to the Smokey Mountains, Elena makes her decision known to him.

“If you don’t come with me, I’m going by myself,” she declares as she scoots out of her seat. Elena knows that Alaric cares about her and wouldn’t leave her to face a pack of werewolves. Not only is she his step-daughter, his student, his responsibility but she’s also her Aunt Jenna’s niece. There’s no way he would leave her in danger.

“What?” She saw him whip his head to shoot her a stern look. “You were the one, who told me that I can handle things on my own now.” She shrugs her shoulder nonchalantly as she turns his words against him.

“Yeah, I-I-I meant like frozen dinners and SAT’s,” Alaric tries to defend himself but she gives him flat yet expectant look. He clenches his jaw and turns his head away from her. Her mouth twitches for a second, tempted to smile once again in victory.

“A-alright, fine.” He sighs, reaching for his back pocket to take out his wallet. “Let’s just – let’s just go.” She drops her eyes to look at the cash he’s pulling out to pay for his drink but Elena snaps her eyes back up to his face as he turns to her once more.

“But-uh you’re driving.” He tells her.

She lets a little smile play on her lips and walks away to exit the Mystic Grill, feeling satisfied knowing she’s won this time.

~.~.~

It takes a few hours but she and Alaric finally reached the outskirts of the Smokey Mountains. They have to hitchhike the rest of way, carrying their own bags whilst in the summer heat. It’s interesting if one thinks about it. For most of the summer, Elena spent a lot of her time outside but not once has she tanned. She hardly has any tan marks on her pale skin which makes her think about the mystery man in her dreams. She’s almost as pale as him. She wonders if he ever tans as well. Just another question to add to her growing list.

Her thoughts are interrupted by Alaric’s voice. “In a few hours, the full moon’s going to rise.” He points at the mountain. “Just above that ridge. If Tyler’s right, that’s where the pack will be.”

A random thought suddenly pops in Elena’s head as she goes to open her water bottle. “You were a boy scout, weren’t you?”

He scoffs, calling out behind him. “Shut up.”

“Boy scout slash vampire slayer,” she laughs before taking a sip of her water.

“Slash whiskey drinking, all round, lost cause,” he adds on to her comment. At which she chuckles, wiping her mouth of some of the water that had run down her chin.

They come to a stop as Alaric places his backpack on the floor. Meanwhile she puts away her bottle in her green backpack. After Alaric puts his bag down, he gives a loud groan of relief at having the weight off his shoulder. Elena follows after him, giving a relieved sigh and readjusts the backpack hanging over her shoulder. Her feet are sore. During their hike, the muscles in her legs felt heavier and heavier to walk.

“I got to work on my cardio,” she mutters to herself. The statement rang true despite her recent athleticism. After having started working out during the summer, she’s still not as durable when it comes to long walks or having to take a lot of stairs. She blows up a puff of air as a strand of her glinting red hair falls on her face. The contents of Alaric’s backpack catch her eye.

“Wow, you came stocked.” She comments, stepping closer to him to take a closer look. Alaric’s bag is filled with wooden stakes of all sizes. Although she’s not one to talk, carrying a couple handguns and some knives. But seeing Alaric’s bag full of stakes is still a bizarre sight to behold.

“Well, we aren’t exactly bird watching.” He hands her something, telling her to put it in her bag. She looks at the object in her hand and realizes it’s a grenade filled with some kind of liquid. Vervain, she assumes. Elena asks him in confusion since they aren’t exactly going up against vampires.

“Wolfsbane,” he corrects her and her mouth opens into a little “o” shape in understanding before putting it in her bag.

“Well, since we’re exchanging gifts,” she says and takes out the Gilbert ring for Alaric to see. He stares at it for a moment.

“That’s John Gilbert’s ring,” he points out. Elena nods her head in affirmation, turning the ring in her hand closer to get a better look at it.

“It was yours once.” She holds it out to him. “Come on. Take it, it’ll protect you from any supernatural danger we’re about to get ourselves into.” She quickly moves her head towards the ridge Alaric said the full moon will rise from, her eyes darting from the ridge and back to the older man.

He hesitates, eyes shifting between the ring and herself. “He gave it to you,” he speaks gently.

“Yeah, but I’m a doppelganger. It’s not gonna work on me,” she counters with a soft smile after realizing the reason why Alaric is so hesitant to take the ring from her. It warms Elena’s heart to know he would never want to take something given to her by her family. But she’s right. The ring only works on non-supernaturals. She’s a doppelganger. Despite not having any gifted abilities other than for her blood and her appearance, Elena is still a supernatural.

“He left it as a favor if gets,” she finishes with a shrug. Her gaze lowers in thought, remembering her Uncle John and the letter he wrote to her. Her eyes shoot up at Alaric’s voice.

“Yeah, well then, why don’t you save it for future generations of stubborn, relentless baby Gilberts,” he tries to reject her offer. Seeing that Alaric isn’t about to let up, Elena makes a compromise.

“Okay. How about you borrow till after we survive this? I would feel bad if I got you killed before happy hour.” She waits, staring up at him expectantly with a confident smile while he stares at her, obviously in a mental conflict. Finally, he relents with a fond smile after losing the mental battle in his head but he still makes no move to take the ring from her. She waves it around in her hand, reminding him to take it from her before her arm tires out.

She gives out a relieved smile when Alaric finally takes the ring and breathes out in a relief, readjusting the backpack hanging over her shoulder. At least she has one worry out of her mind, she thinks to herself while running a hand through her hair. Even though she’s confident in not getting hurt, it doesn’t mean she’s confident about others not getting hurt instead. Whatever is happening to her has given her the ability to defend herself. For some reason, she has no fears about going up against a supernatural or anyone really. But she worries about those she cares about. Which is why she brought her Uncle John’s ring with her. Elena knows that Alaric can fight for himself. But it’s good to know that in case things go bad, he can come back from whatever happens should a supernatural kill him.

Suddenly the heat gets to her under the thin denim shirt she’s wearing. The sweat on her back sticks the fabric of her clothes to her skin. Thankfully, she had a feeling this would happen and wore an undershirt should she take off the top layer. She removes the backpack from her shoulder and goes to remove her shirt while Alaric had walked over and is kneeling by his backpack. She thinks back on his earlier words along with his stubborn refusal to take the Gilbert ring. She confronts him about it.

“I don’t know why you think that you’re a lost cause.” Just as she finished her sentence, a force on her back pushes her forward into the lake in front of her. She lets out a yell of surprise, flailing in the air. Before she hit the water, right before her eyes, the scenery changes.

_It’s night time and she’s sitting in the passenger seat of a car, sleeker and pricier if the interior was anything to go by it. It was vastly different compared to her parent’s car that was totaled in the accident. They’re speeding down the side streets and suddenly a thump from the roof of the car interrupts the smooth ride of the car. She looks up at the roof whilst the driver kept speeding down the road. She growls in irritation and grabs something from the center console in between their seats._

_Elena realizes it’s a gun and she shouts something indecipherable before shooting at the roof of the car until all the gun is empty. She angrily throws the gun down as whoever was on top of their car remained up there. She briefly looks at the driver and realization hits her. This is the man she saw at Arkham! Instead of wearing a straitjacket, he has a nice suit on this time. She sees that he’s wearing a few rings on each hand and a gold chain is hanging around his wrist. He’s cackling at whatever she said, still concentrating on driving. For some reason, she’s delighted to hear his laughter from her actions no matter how creepy it sounds._

_His laughter dies down and the dark, gleeful look on his face fades away to anger and annoyance. He eventually punches the car roof with a yell after several failed attempts of shaking off their chaser from their car and he shifts gears. She grabs onto the car door as the sudden turn threatens to throw her out of her seat. When she sees them fast approaching a bridge, trepidation and fear starts to seep in her gut. That feeling only grew worse when the man, instead of slowing down, speeds up. As the car drives off the bridge, a terrified scream rings in her ears as they approach a deep, dark lake. Elena doesn’t notice it at first but it’s her own voice that rings out._

_“Babe, I can’t SWIM!”_

_Elena’s heart jumps to her throat as she realizes this moment happened not long after her parent’s accident. It’s true that she couldn’t swim for a time because being submerged underwater reminded her the feeling of drowning and locked down. During her parent’s accident, her seatbelt kept her strapped in the car and unable to swim away hence the feeling of being locked down. When the car enters the lake, water crashes into the front window and smashes the glass. The sudden submergence under water dazes her. She can’t breathe. The oxygen in her lungs depleting as she flails in panic. She feels trapped and her legs don’t move despite the urgency of the situation. She feels a hand wrap around her wrist and pulls her up as an arm comes around her underarms._

_She opens her eyes to see bright white fabric and green hair amidst the dark water. Her eyes readjust to see the man more clearly, trying to pull her up with him. She looks behind her to see she’s halfway out of the destroyed front car window. But the man is struggling to bring them up with her dead weight. It soon becomes obvious that he can’t take her with him. With his heavy jewelry to her inability to swim, they’re sitting ducks waiting to be caught by their pursuer. She looks at the man again and grabs his shoulder. She brings her hand to rest on one side of his face. So focused on getting them to safety, he’s caught off guard with her action. The look he gives her stings her heart._

_Elena leans toward him and presses her lips on his._

_She desperately captures this moment. The rough touch of his lips against hers. The sensation of the scar above his lip. The feel of his skin. The scar on his cheek that her thumb gently runs over. She pulls her face slightly away from his to look into his heated yet confused gaze. She runs her eyes over his face, committing him to memory as her hand slides down to rest on his collar bone. I’m sorry, she wordlessly tells him with her eyes._

_She sneaks her arm under his, releasing his grip around her and uses her strength to push him away up through the weight of the water._

_While he floats up closer to the surface, she is pushed down with her body still half out the car’s broken front window. She looks after him as he screams in rage, his hand reaching out for hers. But the distance is too great and soon enough, all she sees is nothing. At least, he’s safe, is her last thought before she feels the top of the car hit her lower back. She opens her mouth to cry out in pain but the strong force down had her head connect with the hood of the car. Thinking back on her parent’s car accident, there are a lot of similarities to then and now. Except she saved her loved one this time and she is content with that. Perhaps this is how it should end. Oh, how wrong she is about that._

_She doesn’t how much time passes but she glimpses a dim light shine behind her closed eyes and realizes that she’s been caught. Quickly she moves one of her arms behind her to grasp the knife hidden under her dress. Elena won’t go down without a fight because if the pursuer is here that means her mystery man has a better chance of escaping. She doesn’t move until she feels them lift her head and shine a light in her face. Her eyes snap open and she swipes the knife at the masked man in black, making him release his grip on her hair. She bares her teeth at him, ready to fight. But a quick punch to her face envelopes her in permanent darkness._

She’s brought back to the present as she lands in the lake. Thankfully, it wasn’t too deep. She gets to her feet, struggling to find her balance. She’s shocked at the sudden push into the lake as well as the forced vision of drowning again. Unlike her dreams, she actually saw something whilst wide awake. This never happened before. But what she saw is making her angry right now because that vision shows her that she had lost another person in her life in the cruelest way possible. What made it worse is that it was a car accident that occurred the same way as her parent’s death: off a bridge, in a car, and underwater.

Elena looks back up at the ledge to see what pushed her or rather whom: a very familiar, smirking face whose owner is ironically donned in black.

“Damon,” she says, filled with many emotions at once such as disbelief and annoyance. Her hands clench into fists at having been taken by surprise. “How are you even here?”

The vampire looks over his shoulder at Alaric. Elena feels as if she is stabbed in the stomach, her breathing turns heavy as she tries to hold back her hurt at his betrayal and her anger at Damon.

“You sold me out,” she realizes and Alaric only shakes his head at her which makes his betrayal all the more hurtful.

“Did you think I would take you into a mountain range of werewolves on a full moon without back up?” he calls out to her as if his words would soften the blow that her ego just took.

Suddenly murder just became a whole easier to do, she thought to herself as she glares up at them and mentally at the masked man she saw in her vision. Now she has a face to put on her next target.

Unknown to her, her eyes that are filled with anger also holds a dark glint of impending madness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, how about that! Now that Elena randomly feels like killing someone, is anyone safe from her wrath? Find out in the next chapter!
> 
> Initially, I had no plans to include a memory but I thought I’d take advantage of this opportunity to insert that scene from Suicide Squad since there are a lot of coincidences between the two scenes. I know I sort of romanticized the memory between the Joker and Elena. I initially had a different idea but I just recently wrote an interaction between her and Joker in a future chapter which is why I tweeked the memory scene. I’m sorry for any of you, who might be put off by that. The Joker/Elena scene I just wrote really enlightened me on what kind of relationship the two will have.
> 
> Also, I said earlier I have a hint for a future chapter that may or may not come up eventually. We may get to see a glimpse of the Joker present day and not just some memory. Not in the next chapter but some other chapter when the timing is right. Look forward to it.


	4. Chapter Four

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is a new chapter! The time jump is quite big from 3x02 to 3x05 already. I had initial plans to include scenes of rabid hybrid Ray vs Elena but it just came out like this. Because the more I tried to plan things out and rationalize things, it didn’t work to how I like it.
> 
> My goodness. I am loving the feedback I’m getting from you guys. It just makes me all the more pumped for this story. Also, I read in a comment/review about how a reader stopped watching TVD long ago but they’re still reading this story and can’t wait for more. Reading your comment, it got me thinking about future plans for this story in relation to the TVD universe like if I should include season 4, 5, or 6. I might mix it up a bit to make it more interesting if it comes to that. Who knows though because we’re still at early season 3 in this story! Other than that, the person also mentioned being confused about if Elena is or was Harley, not directly stating that they were confused but I guessed as much from how they explained it.
> 
> The only way I can tell it without giving too much away is that Elena became “Harley” the summer before TVD season 1. But certain events happened that lead to Elena returning to Mystic Falls as the Elena we know her as in TVD rather than the “Harley” persona I’ve showed you guys in this story. After the sacrifice at the end of season 2, her death and resurrection broke whatever was barring Elena’s “Harley” persona and memories. [I use quotation marks around Harley’s name because Elena is still her own character and I still don’t know what’s Elena’s criminal name]. So right now, the main character is still Elena but bits and pieces of the “Harley” persona is coming out along with the physical changes she had gained because of the Joker. I hope I’ve cleared up any confusion you might have had.
> 
> Anyway, let’s get on with the story! Here is the next chapter you have been waiting for!

It’s been days since the Smokey Mountains. A lot has happened since then.

They came across a rabid hybrid, her vervain necklace apparently has magic in it and is now in the hands of Katherine Pierce, Stefan doesn’t want to come back home, and Elena hasn’t heard from Damon or her brother Jeremy all day. Tonight is senior prank night; a high school tradition the seniors do before the school year starts. She and her friends are all together. Even though Matt just remembered the tradition the hard way: after ruining their hard work of a classroom full of mousetraps. But she doesn’t blame him, things have been rough the past year, especially for her this past summer. Regaining memories and characteristics she lost has been hard on her. Especially the memories of the mystery guy whom Elena still has not put a proper name on yet except for Mister J or the pet name, Babe.

After being pushed into a lake brought back one of her memories, Elena made more efforts to recreate any possible events that could spark another memory. But no such luck except for those unexpected moments when she would catch sight of a familiar looking object. Such as a tattoo gun, a police uniform, gold chain jewelry, a doctor’s coat, dim lights, etcetera. She’ll probably have more luck if she travels to Gotham to fit the puzzle pieces she already has but she can’t do that. At least, not anytime soon. For now, she’s stuck in this town with a load of responsibilities that needs to be taken care of first. Elena stops in her tracks as she watches Tyler walk out with a group of seniors to the school gym.

That day in the lake brought light in her eyes. It confirms that she isn’t going crazy and losing her mind even though others would say otherwise. Considering seeing something that’s not there is a bad thing. Yet what she saw in the lake confuses her. If her mystery guy deliberately drove the car off the bridge, it could be that they were trying to run away for some reason. But from whom, she wonders endlessly as she thinks about the masked man who came for her in the lake.

Once she got home from the mountains late at night, she opened her computer to look up more information but to her frustration her fingers don’t move like before. She nearly screamed her head off before hitting herself repeatedly and pulling at her hair, knocking herself out when Alaric opened her bedroom door in a panic after hearing her scream. After she woke up the next day, it was difficult to explain why she screamed. Especially with the dream she just had.

_Gun shots ring in the air as two people wearing masks throws Elena onto an operating table._

_They are in one of operating rooms in Arkham Asylum and it is disgusting. Unlike the rest of the hospital, the room is a mess and the grubby walls and floors only proves her point. She was brought here forcefully from her room after the invaders somehow managed to access the treatment area. She struggles against her captors, shouting at them to let her go. But they manage to hold her down and roughly strap her down to the table, gagging her before they walk out of the room. She wiggles in discomfort from the tight restraints before footsteps catch her attention._

_“What do we have here?” the approaching voice teasingly calls out._

_A lamp is shoved close to her face and her eyes shut instinctively against the bright light before peeling her eyes open to come face to face with her mystery man. Her very shirtless mystery man, who has a lot more tattoos covering his body. Her mystery man, who is currently lacking a straitjacket. Elena realizes then that he must have had people help him break out of Arkham. Just how much power and influence does this man have to orchestrate a break out whilst incarcerated._

_She watches him talk to her, his face above hers. Although the lamp was very bright, she can still see his face. Compared to their conversations, this is the most revealing of the man’s character that she’s seen in the last month. He appears more free and wilder than ever. She’s starting to see why so many of the doctors and other patients are so scared of him as he moves his face closer to hers, his hair falling out of place. Elena was scared too when they talked to each other for the first time but she got to know this dangerous man as he did her. Her eyes soften a bit as he runs his gloved hand down her face, further resolving the internal decision she’s made. She tries to talk through the gag._

_“What? What’s that?” he asks mock playfully, putting his face close to hers. “Ya want me to hear ya scream?” He removes the gag out of her mouth roughly. She moves around her stiff mouth from being gagged._

_“You don’t have to do this,” is the first thing that comes out of her mouth and he tsks at her._

_“Of course I do, Elena,” he stresses her name. “I need to repay ya for all you’ve done for me.”_

_“What are you going to do?” she asks him after sees him turn on the machine beside them. “Are you going to kill me, Mister J?” He looks at her as if what she told him is offensive._

_“Oh, I’m not gonna kill ya. I’m just gonna hurt ya. Really, really bad,” he says each word in a slow and low tone, preparing the shock pads in his hands as a whine comes from the machine. He brings the pads closer to her temples, eyes gleaming darkly as his mouth opens wide as if he couldn’t wait to consume her oncoming screams._

_“You think so,” Elena speaks softly, making him pause. The shock pads at the ready by her temples. “Well, I can take it.”_

_Something appears in his eyes as he looks at her more closely. They stare at each other, lost in their own world before anger fills his eyes. He tears his face away from hers with a growl, shoving the shock pads away from him in frustration. She feels confused as he brings out something from out of her sight. She watches as he folds the object in half before bringing it into the light and Elena’s heart warms when she sees the object up close._

_“Say ahh,” he orders and she complies, opening her mouth to accept the strap that’s shoved in between her teeth._

_Throughout their time together, she thought he cared about her and a part of her still believes that. Mister J picks up the shock pads again and readies it by her temples. He wouldn’t have talked to her and thought about her wellbeing on some occasions, if he didn’t care about her. She braces herself for the worst as her eyes looks at one of shock pads held close to her face. He wouldn’t have been as mesmerized with her as she was with him the first time they met, if he didn’t feel anything for her. That is her last thought before the shock pads touches her temples. She arches her back up from the table in agony, holding back her screams._

It’s bizarre; but, the last moment of that memory struck her heart in a way she hasn’t felt before. Not even with Stefan or Matt including Damon, who she admits she was on the verge of feeling something for him. But memories of Mister J pull her attention away. Although she doesn’t completely remember the older man, Elena remembers the feelings he evokes within her despite what he’s done to her. Even after a year of separation, those days together still feels like yesterday. Also, the memory of being on the receiving end of electroconvulsive therapy does explain why she isn’t mentally all there at times. But ECT can’t cause physical changes so it just has her wondering more on how that came to happen.

Elena shakes her head as her mind goes back to Mister J. In her head, she plays out various scenarios of them reuniting. She hums in content before turning back to her initial plan of gluing her guardians desk shut in his classroom. She pushes open the door to the next hallway only to come face to face with a conniving Original hybrid. Her eyes widen in shock, caught off guard at the sight of the man, who is supposed to think she is dead.

“There’s my girl,” Klaus drawls and he smirks at her.

“Uh-oh,” she mutters. His head cocks to the side at her odd reaction. She turns to run away but stops when she sees Klaus standing behind her.

“You are supposed to be dead. What are we going to do about that?” he asks himself but his eyes are trained on her form at which she gulps nervously.

He grabs her roughly by the arm and drags her off the opposite direction of Alaric’s classroom. She had to speed up her steps to keep up with him.

“You put rather large kinks in my plan, sweetheart. The whole point to breaking my curse and becoming a hybrid was to make more hybrids. I haven’t been able to do that. Now, my bet is it has to do with the fact that you’re still breathing.” The whole time Klaus ranted, he kept roughly manhandling her.

“If you’re going to kill me, just do it,” she speaks, irritated at being dragged around like a doll rather than being fearful of the man.

“Not until I know I’m right. But I do have ways of making you suffer.” He pushes his back on the door handle, hauling her in through the door.

They keep up this cycle until entering the school gym where Klaus slows down and dons an American accent, telling all of the students to head on home. But he stops Chad and Dana from leaving, compelling them for Dana to keep her foot up and if she drops her foot, Chad has to beat her to death. Although she has a feeling that Chad and Dana are going to die either way, Elena has to at least stop Klaus from killing her peers, who have nothing to do with them.

“Don’t, Klaus.” She hisses at him as some students are still in the room. “You don’t have to hurt anybody.”

“Oh, come on, love,” he says, looking at her. “Of course I do.” She looks at the two compelled students in guilt yet felt exasperated over these childish displays.

It may have been almost an hour watching Dana try to keep her foot off the ground as Elena wracks her brain for a plan. The sound of Dana’s terrified whimpers is making her anxious and her hand start to shake. Come on, Elena, she mentally berates herself. She wishes that she brought her gun with her but it’s at home. Hearing the door behind them opening has her spinning around only to see Bonnie and Matt enter the gym to her horror.

“Bonnie, get out of here.” Elena yells out a warning to her friend. Bonnie only had a split second to process the situation before Klaus sped to stand behind her.

Even though having her friends in the same room as Klaus worried her, she’s relieved to see and hear Klaus give Dana and Chad a break. But now came the hard part.

“I assume you’re the reason that Elena is still walking around, alive.” Klaus states more than questions Bonnie, who vocally accepts his assumption.

“But if you wanted to blame someone, blame me,” Bonnie says to protect her friends but Klaus waves her off.

“Oh, there’s no need for blame, love. It’s just your witchy interference seems to have caused some undesirable side effects and since you caused the problem, I’m gonna have you find the fix.” He smiles brightly at the young Bennett witch as if what he’s asking is simple when they all know otherwise.

Everyone’s attention is brought by the sound of the door opening again and Elena’s heart sank as her eyes spots Tyler struggling against a blonde woman.

“I like you all to meet my sister, Rebekah.” The original vampiress looks at the group expectantly while they in turn give wary looks. “Word of warning, she can be quite mean,” Klaus adds lightly and his sister looks at him with narrow eyes.

“Don’t be an ass,” she retorts before pushing Tyler towards him. The gut feeling Elena has had since coming face to face with Klaus tonight grows stronger and panic grasps at her heart.

“Leave him alone,” Elena says strongly, her eyes fixated on the two of them.

“I’m gonna make this very simple.” Klaus walks himself and Tyler out and in front of the group like he’s giving a performance. “Every time I attempt to turn a werewolf into a vampire-hybrid, they die during the transition. It’s quite horrible actually.”

As if in a slow motion, Klaus bites down on his forearm and shoves it in Tyler’s mouth. Elena tenses up, her panic showing on her face while Tyler struggles against Klaus futilely.

“I need you to find a way to save my hybrids, Bonnie.” She rattles off internally in denial as Klaus grasps the werewolf’s head. “And for Tyler’s sake, you better hurry.”

Elena looks on with wide eyes as Klaus snap Tyler’s neck and lets his body fall to the floor. She almost couldn't believe it as Tyler momentarily is airborne but his collapse grounds her of his predicament. She takes one step toward him, her gaze stuck on the still form of her transitioning friend.

She and Tyler aren’t very close but they’ve been a part of each other’s lives since they were in primary school. Elena isn’t the same Elena as her friends know her but there’s one thing that has always stuck by her no matter what. Even though not many people know this but she’s very protective of her friends. When she was a kid, back in her tom boy phase, she hated people hurting her friends to the point where she physically hurt said bullies. But thanks to her parents, she quickly grew out of that phase and lived normally. Until she met Mister J. Based on her memories, it’s obvious that he has a profound effect on her. So much so she got back into hurting people, though no matter the reason.

Anger pools in her veins and her still shaking hands clench into fists until her knuckles turn whiter if possible. Nobody hurts her friends. Sure, lately, Elena hasn’t hurt anyone yet but rarely ever has she hurt her friends. She’s hasn’t had a reason to yet. But like her Mister J, if anyone gets to hurt her friends that would be her and only her. Her lips press together to contain whatever she’s likely to say in a burst anger but that doesn’t stop her eyes from looking at Klaus’s smug face.

She glares at him as a stray tear falls down her cheek.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, looks like Klaus pissed off the wrong girl. Don’t get me wrong, I love Klaus. Look at a lot of my TVD stories, you’ll see me trying to ship him with some doppelganger character in any way possible that I can think of. But I think his character needs to be taken down a peg or two.
> 
> Also I’m kind of scratching the back of my head in embarrassment as I realize that I’ve ended this chapter the same way as the previous one.
> 
> I’m very sorry for the lack of updates but I came up with a system for me that allows me keep writing this story. I’ve found that if I’m a few chapters ahead of you guys then I still have room for editing which would lead to more writing for future chapters. In my head, I feel like if I post a chapter then I can’t edit it. In the past, I’ve always posted nonstop whenever I publish a new story but that would always lead to writers block and then never writing for that story again. I don’t want that to happen to you guys so I hope you can respect my posting/writing system. Trust me it’s better for the both of us this way.
> 
> See ya next time!


	5. Chapter Five

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am back!
> 
> In this chapter, I’ve decided to break off into a memory because I’m still deliberating about how I should proceed with Elena and how she’ll deal with Klaus after what he’s done to Tyler. On one hand, I want Klaus to find out that Elena isn’t just a helpless human doppelganger he can threaten and push around. Yet, at the same time, I don’t want to make things too flashy with Elena carelessly showing off her skills after spending the last summer trying to protect her secret.
> 
> I’m in a real dilemma right now so I thought it would be nice to see some more memories that Elena has remembered in the time gaps.
> 
> I know I gave you guys at least one flashback per chapter but they only had huge effects on Elena. I realized there are the little interactions between certain characters that make a difference and I can’t fit that into every present day chapter. There might be some flashbacks that I’ve hinted in previous chapters like stuff that Elena has referenced but hasn’t gotten into much detail on. So you’ll be seeing some of that in this chapter.
> 
> This chapter won’t be italicized since there’s no break of present day. Enjoy!

Mid-May 2009 – Mystic Falls

 

Elena is sitting on a couch, her head held up by her hand propped on the back helm. She stares off to the side as her doctor prattled on the same information the last four doctors told her.

 

“There’s nothing physically wrong with you. Your hand tremors, while bizarre, is,” she cuts off his sentence.

 

“A result of trauma from my parent’s car accident because I haven’t accepted their death; while, I was miraculously found out on the edge of the river with no one around me,” she recites and looks at the surprised doctor. “I’ve heard the same thing from the last four doctors I’ve talked to. I know my parents are dead and I know if I hadn’t of called them to pick me up that night, they would still be alive. That was weeks ago. I’m coping with that fact to this day, but I’m doing better than I was last month. Unless you can tell me something new, you’re wasting both our times here.”

 

Her doctor only looks at her with a wry smile. “If you would let me finish what I was going to say.” She waves a hand as if telling him to go ahead. “As you said, you’ve gotten better dealing with your parent’s accident. However, your hand tremor shows me otherwise. So if there’s nothing physically wrong with you and accepting your loss hasn’t made any improvements. Then the solution is very simple.”

 

She waits for him to answer, raising an eyebrow when he makes no move to continue. “And?” she prods.

 

“I can’t help you with your tremors,” the doctor confesses and Elena becomes confused with a tinge of annoyance. Seeing her expression, he explains further, “This can’t be treated by your local doctor. You need an experts opinion. Someone who has experience in working unknown cases like yours.” She inhales through her mouth as she pushes her back off the couch and leans forward with her hands tangled together in front of her. At least this one tells her something semi-useful.

 

“Do you have anyone in mind?” she asks him and the doctor ponders, humming in thought. She watches as suddenly his eyes widen and he looks at his desk.

 

She waits for him to move to his desk to grab whatever he thinks can help her but he doesn’t move. He flashes looks at his desk as his eyes darts from it and to his lap in a repetitive cycle. Elena doesn’t know what’s made him so hesitant out of nowhere so she pulls his attention.

 

“Look, I don’t know what has you so scared all of a sudden. But if you know someone who can stop my tremors then I need to know _now_.” She looks desperately into his eyes, hoping and pleading with him that he help her. Her hand tremors are a constant reminder of whom she’s lost and she’s over it. She just wants to move on with her life and help the rest of the family cope, especially Jeremy who has fallen into a worst slump than hers since losing their mom and dad.

 

The doctor sighs in defeat. He gets up from his seat in front of her, placing his clipboard down. She watches him walk around his desk, the sound of sliding wood tells her that he’s probably opening a desk cabinet. He walks back towards her, handing her a piece of paper. Elena slowly takes it from him and looks down at the paper, her eyes running through its contents.

 

“I have a friend in New Jersey. She works at a psychiatric hospital but it’s mostly for the insane and for criminals that can’t be kept in a standard prison. The hospital has a treatment program for sane patients, who have unexplained cases like yours. They have private rooms and a joint cafeteria but my friend told me that the rooms are kept away from the dangerous patients so you’ll be safe as long as you follow their rules,” he explains as she finishes reading the paper in her hand.

 

“I will warn you though,” he begins and she looks up at him in question. “That place isn’t very safe for someone like you to go. You’re a nice girl. But there are people at that hospital, who likes to hurt nice girls. I know you want to get better. Not just for yourself but for your family as well. Just consider all your other options before you act.”

 

Looking at his stern yet pleading expression, Elena gives him a slow nod at which he breathes out a slow breath and relaxes his shoulders that had tensed after handing her the piece of paper. She looks at said paper with most of the information typed and printed out about the treatment program at Arkham Asylum.

 

~.~.~

 

Early June 2009 – Arkham Asylum

 

Elena’s eyes are shut but she’s not asleep. Just resting her eyes, listening to the random sounds coming from the TV in the day room made for the treatment patients.

 

It’s been a few days since she’s arrived in Arkham and seen the green haired man. He’s been on her mind for a while now despite all attempts to forget and ignore her fascination of him. Seriously, Elena, she thinks to herself angrily. For all you know the guy’s a criminal. She can just imagine Caroline freaking out over Elena’s new type. That last thought helps ease her pent up emotions and she opens her eyes to look out the barred window. Her first few days at the hospital were awkward as she had trouble getting around and didn’t know anybody. Thankfully, her doctor let her adjust and only had Elena get samples taken from her to be tested for now.

 

She sighs as her mind brings her back to the green haired man. She’s very tempted to go look for him throughout the hospital.

 

Patients from the treatment program are allowed to wander except outside of the grounds. There is a small indoor garden though. But when she says small, she does mean _small_. Only a few people at a time can go there so that’s a useless place to visit unless you have a green thumb or want some peace and quiet to yourself.

 

She looks around the day room seeing as it’s mostly empty except for a few patients who were either watching the TV or playing a game. From what she’s seen, this is a normal occurrence as most of the patients stayed in their rooms. Not that there’s a lot of patients in the treatment program to begin with. Thinking on the older man, Elena doesn’t know where to begin looking for him. She’s still unfamiliar with the map of the building. If she tries to search for him now, she’ll only get lost and probably won’t be found till dinner time. Dinner time, she repeats to herself. Dinner time. Suddenly a light bulb pops in her head and she straightens up in her chair.

 

The cafeteria!

 

But she quickly deflates. He wouldn’t be at the cafeteria, she thinks sullenly. The cafeteria is only available to the more stable patients and not to the incarcerated criminals.

 

Looking back on the man’s appearance, Elena’s certain he’s a criminal. Which makes her want to find him all the more a terrible idea. Even though her focus at the time was on the man, she remembers how her doctor had tensed up and pulled her to the side. She gives a quiet groan as she runs her hand through her dark hair before putting her weight on the arm of her chair.

 

She pauses for a moment as something itches at the back of her mind, telling her she just missed a _huge_ clue. Elena backtracks her previous thoughts till she remembers the day she first saw him, how her doctor reacted, then walking away to the treatment area. She closes her eyes as she remembers seeing him walking further down the hall and one of the guards leading him away was about to turn a corner!

 

She shoots out of her seat and hurries out of the day room.

 

If she can remember which corner that guard had taken, she should come across the older man’s cell. It takes a while but she manages to reach the hall and spots the entrance her doctor led her to the day she arrived. Elena walks out through the doors warily then shoots looks at both guards. Her doctor once told her that it was okay for her to explore the building as long as she kept herself safe. If she ever left the treatment area, the guards will readily let her back in when she returns since the guards rarely change and they’re always required to remember the faces of the treatment patients. After seeing they aren’t going to make a move to stop her, she walks down the hall trying to recall which corner the guard turned.

 

Elena walks close to the first turn and looks down that hall. She spots a pair of metal doors. But the guard had walked further down the hall. So she keeps moving forward until she reaches the other end of the hallway. She double checks that she has the distance right by looking over her shoulder and sure enough, she is correct. A happy camper, Elena turns down the corner and slows her pace down to get a better look of her surroundings. She doesn’t want to get lost. Down the hallway, there’s another set of double doors. She tentatively opens them, cringing when the door first gave a loud, screeching noise. Once safely entering the hallway, she takes the time to examine the cells.

 

There are small, secure glass windows to see into the cells while metal doors have opening slots. Like with all hospitals, the rooms are labeled. With numbers. She blows out a puff of air in frustration as she shifts her weight onto one leg. She doesn’t want to look into every cell to find the green haired man. But what choice does she have right now.

 

Bracing herself for the worst, she takes one step forward looking into each cell. Some of them look at her while others just stay where they are, doing what they’re doing. Time passes but so does her patience.

 

She must’ve looked in at least ten to twenty cells by now!

 

When she looks into the next cell, she would have kept walking if she hadn’t of caught sight of familiar green hair and pale skin. She double checks to make sure this is who she is looking for and lo and behold there he is. The man is sitting in a chair in a cell that also contains a small cot along with a sink and toilet. His head is bent forward and the sway of his body tells her he’s awake. She steps closer to his cell’s glass window and raises her hand to knock.

 

But she hesitates, biting her lip. She starts second guessing her rash decision.

 

This is a bad idea! What can she say? “Hi. Nice to meet you, How’s your day going”? Definitely not an ideal thing to say if you’re meeting a criminal for the first time in a psychiatric hospital.

 

Elena looks back into the cell and her heart freezes inside her chest when she sees his head has lifted.

 

His eyes are locked on her still form and his lips are parted, revealing his teeth grill. From this angle, she’s able to get a better look at his face. He has a tattoo of the word “Damaged” in cursive on his forehead, close to his hair line. He also has a small tattoo under his left eye. She can’t make out what it is from her distance. Also, she sees the thin scars on his face. One runs down his right eye to his cheek while another is above his upper lip.

 

Her thoughts are interrupted by a quiet growling sound which makes her skin tingle. She realizes the sound is coming from him. Her hands start to shake just as she hears his voice for the first time.

 

“Aren’t _you_ pretty?” He giggles and his eyes light up in excitement. “Are ya the new toy they sent me?” His words bring Elena down to reality and in her head, she shakes herself off her nervousness.

 

“No, nobody sent me,” she answers in a quiet tone, shaking her head to support her statement.

 

She pauses to gather her bearings and straightens up her posture. “I’m not a guard. Or a doctor. I’m a patient here.” If possible, his eyes light up even more and he abruptly stands up. His chair shakes slightly at his sudden movement.

 

A delighted sound escapes his lips, walking closer to the small window. She tenses up as her eyes observes him. His movements are very constrained like he’s forced to walk a straight line. After making note of his mannerisms – the perks of being a doctor’s daughter – Elena knows this man is very dangerous, ignoring the pain that shot up at the thought of her father. The straitjacket and his cell which are the only things containing him is also what’s keeping her safe right now.

 

“Patient, eh?” Calculating grey-blue eyes runs up and down her form and she becomes self-conscious of her outfit. She’s wearing a plain long-sleeved shirt with a white undershirt peeking out paired with a pair of body hugging, dark wash jeans and tan suede ankle boots.

 

Most of the treatment patients are allowed to wear their own clothing since the reason they’re here is to identify their unexplained illnesses so they aren’t in danger of suddenly wanting to kill themselves or others. However, she heard from a fellow treatment patient that there have been some cases of treatment patients having an episode and they got sent to temporary solitary for being a danger to themselves and others. Eventually, all of those patients got out of solitary.

 

“You’re not a patient,” he states rather than questions to her. She holds back the urge to sigh in a bit of frustration.

 

“Yes, I am,” she begins but he cuts her off with a laugh.

 

“So how did ya escape your cell? _Hmm_? Who’d ya _fuck_ to let you out?” He interrogates her, leaving her speechless at the man’s bluntness.

 

She’s never heard anyone speak so crudely towards her before. Being raised in a small town in Virginia does that to you, kept in such a tiny box by her family that she hasn’t been exposed to such dark thoughts. Unless you count the typical teenagers she’d sometimes overhear talking behind her or others back. But never straight to her face. She clenches her teeth as the man continued to laugh. A very irritating, annoying high laugh that’s gritting her nerves.

 

“I didn’t fuck anyone,” she angrily states, or shouts if she’s being honest, over his laughter. “I just asked my doctor to let me walk around.” That was a lie but the man doesn’t need to know that. She may have made the first move to approach him but it doesn’t mean she’s lost her senses and has instilled her trust in him.

 

After hearing her answer, he stops laughing and groans. The sound irks her as she gets the sense that she’s being mocked by him. Her hands start to shake.

 

“Boring,” he sings – nearly shouts – out loudly. He does this repeatedly, dancing around the room like his chanting is a new hit song with a wide smile on his face.

 

It’s only when he’s facing her once more that he finally stops to her personal relief. “If your _doctor_ let ya take a _walk_ , why here?” He giggles and her jaw clenches again. It’s obvious he doesn’t believe her but is playing her anyway.

 

He gasps and widens his eyes to look at her in faux surprise and flattery. Elena imagines the man holding a hand to his chest to complete the look, if he isn’t kept in straitjacket.

 

“Did ya come to visit little ol’ me?” He cackles quietly to himself as if he told a good joke. But not for her.

 

“Yes,” she answers calmly and his cackles quiet down.

 

He finally looks at her in the eye, his smile fading away. For a split-second, she catches something flash in his eyes. It’s on the tip of her tongue but she can’t identify what she sees there.

 

Her initial irritation and annoyance subsides as the man takes one step forward then another and another. She can hear her heartbeat racing in her ears and she swallows as the man gives her a look that stirs her stomach. Her lips suddenly feel dry and rubs them together which makes his eyes dart to her lips. Even though the wall separates them, it doesn’t lessen the tension between them that any bystanders will have noticed on the get-go.

 

At their now shorter distance, Elena observes that he’s slightly taller her and seeing him so up close has her noticing more of his features such as his scars and another small tattoo on his right temple. She realizes that he has more some more scars on his face. Now that he’s closer to her, she can see the tattoo under his eye is the letter “J” and ponders what significance it has to him. She was also right before in noting the first time that he has no eyebrows with no signs of hair growth around the area which perplexes her.

 

“Oh, really?” He says in a low voice. His voice is deeper, leaving her breathing a bit ragged.

 

“Yeah,” she manages to get out of her lips before pausing and lifts her chin to look at him evenly.

 

“And something tells me you wanted to see me too.” His eyes glitters with amusement at her words.

 

“I saw the way you looked at me when we first met,” she continues, his eyes never straying from her. “Anyone would think you’re just another criminal checking out a teenage girl like some pedophile. It would be disgusting. Yet people would believe someone like you is capable of such a thing because you’re a criminal. But not me. I’m not disgusted. You know why?” She pauses to step closer to him. “The first time I saw you, I was drawn to you. The world slowed down around me, around _us_. I couldn’t keep my eyes off you.” She laughs slightly, taking another step forward. “And neither could you. Not then. Not now.” One foot forward. “Ever since we started talking, you’ve only lasted a few seconds without looking at me throughout our whole conversation. Other than that, you haven’t taken your eyes off me.” A small step closer then she stops in front of the man.

 

Now they are a foot distance from each other, excluding the wall barring physical contact.

 

“Ya think ya know me,” he growls at her. The amusement in his eyes has vanished completely throughout her speech. The tone of his voice reveals his growing anger and impending rage. Elena tilts her head to calmly look back into the older man’s eyes.

 

“No, I don’t know you,” she concedes the matter but his anger doesn’t die down. So she adds, “But I would like to. For some strange reason, we feel intrigued by one another. It’ll most likely benefit us more to get know each other so we can understand why that is.” She shrugs her shoulders. “I’d rather get things figured out sooner rather than later. My stay here is only temporary. I won’t be at Arkham forever. I don’t think you want to spend the rest of your time staring, or glaring, at me for who knows how long even after I’m gone.” She pauses for dramatic effect. “Perhaps getting to know each other won’t be so bad if it means we never have to see each other and feel like this again.”

 

She looks expectantly at the man, who has considerably calmed down this time and is currently starring at her with his grey-blue eyes in silence.

 

Despite the naked feeling she’s getting under his stare, she doesn’t dare back down. Something tells her this man rarely loses in an argument. His need for dominance over her was prevalent when he first caught her off guard with his words. Though because of her stubbornness to go through with her decision of finding this man, she managed to clear her head as his attempt to overthrow her failed and had the opposite effect than the man intended. Elena isn’t concerned about how she talked towards this very dangerously, handsome man. She isn’t worried about the man attacking her or planning to kill her one day. She’s out here and he’s in there. Simple enough. And because he’s a criminal, the man will remain in Arkham even after she leaves so she has no worries of bumping into him in the future.

 

Back to the man, who still hasn’t spoken a word. He seems to be lost in thought. He’s still staring at her but his eyes show that he isn’t really looking at her.

 

Suddenly, he tears his eyes away from her and looks off to the side. His jaw clenches and he growls angrily to himself before looking at her again. Elena keeps her eyes on him, showing that she hasn’t changed her stance and given in to him like many others would have done and have done in the past. But she isn’t just anyone. That was made very clear when they first saw one another. However, she’s not the first to enthrall him with her looks and she won’t be the last. Although a part of him wants a taste of the enigma standing before him, his urge to kill the woman for humiliating him dampens his fascination.

 

Unfortunately, she’s made a good point in her argument. His attraction for the woman is obvious but the ties between them are unpredictable. He needs to know more because this woman is also unpredictable. Though from what he makes of her, she’s nothing more than a goody-goody here to spy on him in place of the doctors and the guards. It’s better to placate her, give her what she wants for now until he can break out of this joint. Maybe he can even have a little _fun_. It’s not like he’ll be at Arkham for long. It’s only a matter of time before Jonny enacts his escape. Then he can rid himself of this irritating woman.

 

Elena watches as an excited smile spreads across the man’s lips before he begins to cackle. She doesn’t know what to make of his reaction but she keeps herself relaxed as possible. Maybe maniacal laughter is a normal thing he does. If so, that leaves the man more unpredictable for her to know what his answer might be to her proposal. She stays strong though as his cackle gradually stops and he looks at her with the same smile.

 

“Ya got yourself a deal, dollface,” he accepts her offer.

 

She feels happy all of a sudden, happy yet relieved that she has achieved her goal. Meanwhile, a thread of unease settles in her gut. She doesn’t recognize the feeling at that moment but she will soon enough.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had no idea this chapter would get this long after two flashbacks, I swear.
> 
> It took me awhile to write this chapter because of the Joker dialogue. I barely had anything to base on except for the Suicide Squad trailers, bts footage, and from what I remember of the movie. It’s taken a lot of editing and a lot of “Would he say this …” questions to myself in order for me to find this chapter passable. Because I’m one of those people who is really picky when it comes to writing new dialogue for a character that already exists. Whenever I read Joker dialogues in other fan fiction stories (not all of them but some), I really have to envision that character saying those lines. TBH, it’s a hit or miss for most writers and readers on the matter because some writers and readers can see a character say a certain line while others can’t. Or writers will write what they like because it’s their story and I’m just being picky. I’m really big on details nowadays.
> 
> Anyway, I hope you guys like this chapter. This is the most free writing I’ve done with fan fiction ever. I can’t believe it for myself but I finally finished this chapter. It’s taken me a few days but I actually did it. I almost gave up on this chapter because I got caught up with something else. But I managed to persevere.
> 
> Also, I’m still open to suggestions as to what Elena’s criminal name should be. I’ve heard some stuff like calling her Lainey Jester, Lena Jester, Ellie Gills, Len Gills or something like that. I thought I’d let you guys know just so you can get those creative juices of yours fueling for me. Pretty please with the Joker on top! (No pun intended. Seriously)
> 
> LOL. Leave me a review if you’ve got a suggestion for Elena’s criminal name or leave a review to just tell me your thoughts about this story so far. I really want to your thoughts for this chapter. Would you like to see more stuff like this in the future? Let me know! Also, please be constructive when you go about it if you only intend to leave me negative reviews. Just so you know.
> 
> Until next time!


	6. Chapter Six

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry for the lack of updates, I've been consumed with managing school and work. I felt so bad for you guys that I have forced myself to continue writing so that I could post this chapter.
> 
> Also, I've finally come to a decision from where we left off the last chapter! You'll have to read to find out, though. *Wink*

Elena walks around as Matt and Bonnie stay close by Tyler's unmoving body.

Every single cell in Elena's body is yelling at her to kill the smug hybrid, who's sitting on the bleachers with his sister. Her hands are still shaking but her fingers are also twitching and tapping together as her addled brain is trying to formulate a plan. Her eyes scan the room, ignoring the frightened forms of Chad and Dana. She's so lost in her head that she almost misses Matt's words.

 

"He killed him," he says, his voice caught in his throat. Elena detects a hint of shock and grief in his voice.

 

"He's not dead. Klaus's blood will turn him into a vampire," Elena states calmly but anyone who knows her well enough can the touch of anxiety in her voice.The sound of Klaus's voice intrudes on them and everyone looks over to the bleachers to see him striding over to them. He tells them that Bonnie needs to find a solution to help Tyler survive his transition. In doing so, she would be helping Klaus figure out how to make more hybrids. He gives Bonnie and Matt time to find a solution when all of a sudden she feels a rough hand grab onto her bicep.

 

She hisses in pain before raising her to glare again at Klaus, who has a smirk on his face.

 

"I'll hold onto Elena," he declares, staring down at her. Elena huffs in irritation and looks over at her friends. Bonnie shakes her head slightly at her, torn between not leaving her to deal with Klaus alone and trying to help Tyler. But Elena can take care of herself. Right now Tyler is their main priority. She nods her head to her friend, wordlessly telling her that she'll be okay.

 

Bonnie, who looks resign, takes Matt by his arm and rushes out of the gym, shooting worried looks back at her and Klaus.

 

Elena watches them leave the gym with no regret. She might be insane but that doesn't mean she doesn't still care for those she loves. Her attention is pulled away by Rebekah's voice, who startles her by standing close behind her. She looks at the original vampire, who walks around to face her. Seeing the woman's eyes run up and down her figure has Elena feeling a tad bit worried as a sense of dread also falls over her. Rebekah looks over at her brother.

 

"The original one was much prettier," she comments to him.

 

Suddenly all is silent. At least in Elena's head.

 

Elena feels herself internally holding back a much-enraged version of herself as she threatens to tear off Rebekah's blonde hair along with her head. She isn't very picky when it comes to her appearance but being often praised when she was little about how beautiful she's did raise her self-esteem. However, meeting Caroline and her parent's accident, lessened her desire to dress up. She didn't care anymore about what people thought of her which is why she dressed down her everyday wear the past year. But thinking back on some of her memories with Mister J, she did dress up more often and showed a lot more skin than she thought is possible.

 

Of course, she can't show her legs at the moment because of her tattoos. A shock, right? Elena Gilbert has tattoos! She woke up with them not too long ago. She was very shocked when she was changing in her room for her morning workout and she was about to wear shorts only to see intricate designs on her legs. She has some harlequin diamond tattoos on her right leg along with a few rows of small tick marks. On her other leg, there is a doodle of a skull head wearing a jester hat and some writing that she recognizes as her own. Random sentences like "Let me tell you a Sekret" and "I'LL WAIT FOREVER".

 

Elena isn't the lovey-dovey type despite general belief. Although she liked doing some sweet things with Matt when they were still dating, she was still young and felt like dating Matt was like sticking to what's familiar to her. She doesn't want that, though. She wants adventure and spontaneity. It's why she broke up with him in the first place. It was only bad timing that they broke up after her parent's died. Anyway, she found has another tattoo that is a heart struck by an arrow. It's placed above her knee so she has to lift her leg up to examine the tattoo closely. If there was any doubt about her growing feelings for Mister J, seeing that tattoo only solidifies how much that man means to her. In the middle of the heart are two initials added together: "L + J". She recognizes the "J" initial because of her mystery man but she wonders about the "L". It's possible that it refers to her but most people call her by her full name. Does he call her by a nickname or something?

 

Anyway, she did like to dress up from what she remembers of her time with Mister J. She's still dressing down, playing the part of normal human Elena Gilbert. But that doesn't mean she likes it. She has moments where she wishes she can dress to her preference. Maybe nowadays she can be a bit sensitive and vain about her appearance. However, hearing from someone she barely knows tell her that a corpse is prettier than her is _insulting_!

 

Back to the present, Elena manages to refrain from physically attacking the blonde vampire.

 

But the same couldn't be said for her mouth.

 

Elena pretends to inhale deeply through her nose, looking at the original vampires with a bright smile and open her eyes wide to top off her expression. "Oh, I love your perfume," she gushes.

 

Everyone in the gym is taken aback by the doppelganger's spontaneous reaction. Klaus and Rebekah are especially confused as Elena's response to the blonde original's comment is unexpected. Especially in the situation they are currently in. But what she says next completely throws them off.

 

"What is that, the stench of death?" Elena asks the original, laughing at her joke while some didn't find it as funny. She watches in excited delight as the blonde's expression darkens. She can't help letting her insane self out to play. Besides the original was just asking for it.

 

Rebekah takes a menacing step toward her before Klaus cut in.

 

" _Enough_ , Rebekah. Take the wolf boy elsewhere, would you?" he orders his sister, who looks back at the doppelganger with narrowed eyes then gives Elena a faux sweet smile.

 

Her smile told Elena in volumes that the blonde is going to get her back for what she said. She can't wait to see her try. Thrill thrums within her while her gaze stays on the woman. Rebekah walks over to Tyler's body, grabbing him by the arm and proceeds to drag him out of the gym.

 

Elena lets her smile die on her lips as her sanity resurfaces. But as her former glee die down, her aggressiveness rises. Elena moves to follow the blonde dragging her friend before a tug on her bicep pulls her back. Then she hears Klaus talking in her ear.

 

"Just ignore her. Petty little thing," he murmurs, both of their eyes trained on the leaving duo.

 

In the next hour, a lot of things happen. Stefan finally arrives and tries to convince Klaus that Elena means nothing to him. Which she personally calls bullshit, as she rolls her eyes when she heard him mutter that classic and boring line. It's unbelievable how Stefan is still trying to convince Klaus of his loyalty in that way. It's so old and overused. It almost appears as Klaus was ready to buy Stefan's pleads before Klaus orders him to kill Chad and Dana.

 

After hearing from Damon of how the victims they've been tracking are actually Stefan's and not Klaus's, Elena personally half-expected Stefan to go along with his order only to gaze in exasperation and annoyance when Stefan hesitates.

 

Seriously! What a way to quickly become a hypocrite, Stefan, she mentally berates him. Although a part of her is dying to laugh at Klaus's classic ultimatum.

 

"Is that it?" she asks, her eyebrows scrunched together in confusion. Everyone looks at her and she raises her hands up defensively.

 

"Hey, I'm only asking. But telling him to kill them is a _bit_ much, don't ya think? It's the _oldest_ trick in Bad Guys 101. I mean, couldn't you be a _little_ more creative?" She mentions offhandedly.

 

Klaus, who is starting to get irritated at hearing the doppelganger talk endlessly, moves at a quick but normal speed and his right arm swings at her.

 

But his arm comes to a halt.

 

A nimble and petite hand is holding his forearm. Elena has blocked his punch.

 

She takes advantage of Klaus' surprise and grabs a hold of his shoulder with her free hand. Klaus yells out in pain as Elena literally pulls his arm taut. She then twists his arm and his yells increase in volume when she eventually breaks his shoulder, hearing the snap of his bone.

 

Klaus responds in a flash. He grabs onto her shirt with his free arm and lifts her off her feet, throwing her away from him.

 

Unfortunately, when Klaus grabbed her, Elena made sure she had a fist full of his shirt in her hand. So when he threw her, Elena brings him with her.

 

They land hard on the gym floor, tumbling for a bit before coming stopping. For some random chance of luck, Elena manages to tumble into a kneeling position on her feet and one knee.

 

She whips her head to look back and her eyes land on Klaus, who is lying flat on his back, slightly close to her. Unknown to her, her pupils dilate as she takes in the furious original hybrid and he goes to stand up.

 

She moves quickly, grabbing the arm she hasn't broken and place – more like stomps and crushes his ribs – one foot under his arm. Again she yanks on his arm with all of her strength. She hears another snap as he lets out another yell of pain.

 

"Who's suffering now, huh?" she growls at him.

 

Again she moves, placing her knees on both of his shoulders and she makes sure to put a lot of pressure to ensure that his shoulders won't heal. She punches his chest, cutting off his yell which comes out as a gasp. She repeats this motion over and over. She doesn't stop even when pain stings her knuckles.

 

Klaus spits up blood. Seeing this, Elena stops her punching and grab his hair in her hands.

 

Elena screams out her rage she's kept building up in her as she slams his head onto the gym floor once.

 

Twice.

 

Three times.

 

She keeps slamming his head until his body goes limp under hers.

 

That's when she halts.

 

Her eyes are wild and her breathing is erratic as Klaus's form is bloodied and broken beneath her. Briefly, she looks at her surroundings as she remembers their audience.

 

But no one else is in the gym. She realizes that Stefan must have taken Chad and Dana to safety and hopefully compelled them to forget tonight's events. But looking back down at the original's weak form, anger returns to her as their lack of audience now leaves her free to act however she prefers.

 

As Elena puts more pressure on his shoulders, the hybrid shouts in pain as his healing shoulders are broken again with a strong push and weight on his bones. She lifts his head close to hers, her grip tight on his short curls.

 

"Ya know; I really hate it when people mess with my things," she says as he looks at her furiously.

 

"This entire summer, I've been going through a lot of crazy shit." She laughs. "So _crazy_ , I almost forgot how many people I've lost because of you. Isobel. John. Jenna. You've taken people I've loved away from me forever." She pauses to look at him. "And now you're threatening to take my _friends_."

 

Her face crumples, her eyes slightly teary as she shakes her head. Though she bites back her tears as the intense, bubbling emotions that's been pent up since Klaus returned and attacked _her_ friends remains.

 

Her grip tightens which has her nails digging into his skull. Feeling unsatisfied, she digs her knees deeper into his broken shoulders. He groans in pain to her pleasure. His groan fades into a growl. He glares at the doppelganger as she calms down, her face more serious than before.

 

"You think you know everything but you know _nothing_ ," she mutters furiously in his face. "You come into _my_ town and you act as if we owe you; but, we owe you _nothing_." They stare down at each other with fierce looks. "We did as you asked. My _friends_ and I did as _you_ asked last time but it seems all you ever do is take. Take, take, take, take, take, take, _take_." She swivels her head around as if she's making a catchy tune.

 

"And now you've gone and dragged Tyler down with you." She cackles a bit, her eyes wild with madness.

 

"Wrong move," she sings before snatching his throat in one hand.

 

She feels his chest rumble in response to her tight grasp on his throat and he peels back his lips to reveal blood covered teeth.

 

"To quote an old friend," she loosens her grip on his curls "I'm not going to kill you." Her hand around his throat tightens, making Klaus choke and his arms flail uselessly under her weight and power.

 

"I'm just going to hurt you." She leans closer to him. "Really." Her hand around his throat loosens a bit to let him gasp for breath. "Really." Her face is so close to hers, their lips so close to touching. "Bad," she whispers menacingly.

 

A snap resonates throughout the gym.

 

Elena releases her grip on Klaus's head which flops onto the gym floor.

 

She lets herself sit there and revel in the moment. The power of having someone at her mercy. Of having someone's life in her hands. It's exhilarating.

 

A slow smile play on her lips as giggles start pouring out of her mouth. Which turn into maniacal cackles. She feels like she's on cloud nine. Like she's invincible. The only thing that would make this moment perfect is if her Mister J is here. After that thought, Elena's high starts to fade. She gets up from Klaus's body, a smile still on full display.

 

She did it. She managed to take down an original. Not just that but the most feared one of the originals. She knew that she could take down the average vampire and werewolf but not an original. Elena feels like she's accomplished a great deed.

 

She goes to leave but her feet stop moving as a thought comes to mind. She cocks her head before turning to look back at the body behind her. She's promised to hurt him really bad earlier. But that didn't mean that has to happen now. She has time to plan. Right now, she has a friend who needs saving.

 

Elena quickly walks over to the storage room in the gym. Turning the handle, the door opens to her relief. Some senior must have managed to unlock it for a prank. She leaves it propped open as she scans the room for any tools she can use as a makeshift weapon should Rebekah comes back.

 

Elena is still searching the room when she feels a slight rush of wind.

 

She reacts instinctively and grabs the first thing in reach. Whatever she's gotten a hold of, Elena swings it around to hit whoever's behind her.

 

But she stops mid-swing when she see's Stefan, who's staring at her stoically. The adrenaline she momentarily felt slams into her as relief at the sight of him overwhelms her.

 

"Don't do that again. I could have smashed your brain out," she warns him, her hand still raised with her weapon in hand. He looks at said weapon with a raised eyebrow.

 

"With a badminton racquet," he says doubtfully. She finally looks at her weapon to see that it actually is a badminton racquet. And a broken one at that.

 

She looks back at Stefan with a shrug of her shoulders.

 

"I'd get creative about it," she defends lightly before turning back to her scavenging. She hears Stefan sigh from behind her.

 

"Elena, we have to go," he says to her but she ignores him.

 

"Hey!" He grabs her by the arm at which she throws off but he's finally caught her attention.

 

"Look, Klaus is down right now. If he doesn't get up in the next hour or so, we can make a run for it." She stares at him blankly.

 

"You're joking, right?" she asks him, searching in his eyes but see's he's speaking honestly. "Stefan, we can't just leave Tyler."

 

"Bonnie is figuring it out. Don't worry," he tries to reassure her. But Elena has made her decision and is already shaking her head in disagreement.

 

"No. Even if Bonnie does find a way to save Tyler. What about Rebekah? If she comes back and finds Klaus as he is now, who knows what she'll do to our friends?" she argues.

 

He sighs as he realizes the truth in her words.

 

Even if they've managed to temporarily take down Klaus, there's still another original vampire to deal with. From what he remembers of his time with the older woman, she can be quite vindictive when she wants to. He can only imagine what she'll do to the both of them when Rebekah finds out what they've done to the invincible hybrid.

 

Elena and Stefan have an opportunity before them but he doesn't have a plan. Looking at the young girl, he can tell she has one, though.

 

"What do you have in mind?" he asks her. She gives him a bright smile as she grabs an aluminum baseball bat. One hand on the handle which she uses to lightly smack the bat on the palm of her other hand.

 

Unknown to her, a tattoo appears on her right forearm.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It took me awhile to write this but I've decided to go a bit rogue on the TVD scene and try my hand at something new. I'll probably be making changes as I edit but I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. Not too many memories are in this chapter but there are some brief tangents that flow into Elena's character.
> 
> For those of you who might be a little confused or just wondering how exactly Elena is able to take down original, this is where my merging of the DC world and the TVD world comes into play when it comes to Elena's "Harley" persona. I'm making small twists as to how Elena first turned into "Harley" and how the Joker became the Joker.
> 
> Also, I think I've decided on what Elena's criminal name should be but I'm still open to suggestions. I won't be telling you guys now. You'll have to continue reading this story to find out what it is.
> 
> Bye, bye!


	7. Chapter Seven

Rebekah is striding down the hallway after finding a picture of Elena wearing  _her_  necklace on Caroline's phone.

She is absolutely seething. First, that doppelganger bitch insults her and now Rebekah finds out she also stole her necklace.

Oh, the irony, she thinks to herself furiously as she imagines tearing the girl's throat out. She doesn't care that she's left the blonde baby vampire and her werewolf boyfriend alone. All that's running through her mind is her necklace that she's kept for centuries until the last ninety years.

She storms into the gym ready to tear into the doppelganger but she stops in her tracks in surprise.

The doppelganger isn't there anymore and neither are the two other teenagers. But that's not what catches her attention the most.

It's the sight of her brother, bloodied and broken. If it wasn't for his unmoving form and the lack of dead bodies around him, Rebekah would have first thought her brother had killed everyone. Her surprise and anger give way to concern as she sees her brother in a seemingly familiar position. One she hasn't witnessed in a long time since they were human.

"Nik," she shouts, rushing over to her brother. Or tries to.

A hard thud hits Rebekah at the back of her head. She's thrown off her feet from the surprise attack and she lands on her side onto the bleachers. She shouts in pain as her landing on the bleachers broke one of her ribs.

She screams as something smashes her right leg. She swings her other leg to hit her assailant but that leg is caught by a hand. Suddenly, she senses her attacker's intentions before feeling herself get pulled down. She's dragged down off the bleachers, her head smacking onto the gym floor.

She screams again as her good leg is stomped on, breaking bone. Her attacker lets go of her leg as she pants, lying on her back on the floor.

Unless she resets the bones in her legs, her healing factor won't kick in properly. She leans up on her elbows to glare at who's beaten her only for her face to drop in shock.

"Hmm, a little vulnerable down there, aren't ya?" Elena asks as she stands above Rebekah's injured form. The blonde original's face reveals her shock to Elena's immense pleasure.

"You barely put up a fight," she pouts, leaning the baseball bat in her hand lightly on her shoulder. "Your brother was a lot more fun to play with than you." Rebekah gets up on her hands to look over at her brother in even more shock before looking up at the doppelganger with some trepidation and fear.

Elena sighs as it seems Rebekah isn't going to move anytime soon.

"Oh well. I was going to do you in myself," she stops to run her eyes over the original in disinterest. "But I've changed my mind."

Suddenly someone speeds into the room and grabs Rebekah's head, snapping her neck.

Elena and Stefan watch as Rebekah slides down lifelessly onto the floor, temporarily dead.

"Come on. We need to tie them up before they wake," he tells her. She gives him a nod and waves over to Rebekah.

"Take her. I'll take care of Klaus." They look over at the unconscious hybrid, who was previously on his back but is now lying on his front. Before Rebekah entered, they had to snap his neck again and break more of his limbs to ensure he wouldn't wake up for some time.

Stefan swings Rebekah's body over his shoulder and he walks out of the gym. Elena walks over to Klaus's body, rolling up her shirts sleeves. Her red hair glints under the gym light. She swings the bat around almost as if it's a twirling baton. Years and years of her parents having her take gymnastic classes and doing cheerleading has done wonders.

She stops before Klaus. A smile appears on her face.

She giggles before swinging the bat down.

Once she and Stefan tied up the two originals in the moving truck, Elena had to go back to her friends. She told Stefan to keep an eye on the two, make sure they stay down whilst the rest tries to save Tyler. He reluctantly agrees to her reasoning but he warns her they need to talk about what happened at the gym which leads her return to the school.

Thinking back on what Stefan said worries her. He must know something is up with her. Although technically Stefan isn't the first guy who healed her after her parent's death, he still has an impact on her that she will forever be grateful for. He's not as brutally honest or stirs her with lust and passion like Mister J. But Stefan grounded her and he kept her from drowning in grief at the time.

Elena sighs as she realizes what she's already decided to do about him.

But she perks up when her ears catch Matt and Bonnie's voice. Relief washes over her.

She jogs over to where their voices are coming from around the corner. However, she stops in her tracks when she hears Matt's words.

"From the witch that put the hybrid curse on Klaus," Matt says and realization hits her. They must have finally found out how to save Tyler! Unfortunately, her excitement is only temporary by what Matt says next.

"She said that Elena shouldn't have survived Klaus's ritual. The hybrids can't transition because Elena's still alive," he reveals to Bonnie and incidentally Elena.

She clenches her teeth, bending over to contain her frustration and anger. God dammit! Elena runs both hands over her face and into her hair. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. This  _can't_  be happening! They have to save Tyler. He doesn't deserve any of this. She tries to calm down and think of any other way that can help Tyler. She snaps her eyes shut tightly as she urged herself to think back on the sacrifice. What were the ingredients?

A witch to do the spell.  _Greta_.

The heart of a werewolf.  _Jules_.

The heart of a vampire.  _Jenna_.

The blood of a human Petrova doppelganger.  _Herself_.

She pauses and opens her eyes as a thought occurs to her. Hold on, Matt said the original witch told him that she has to die in order for hybrids to complete their transition. But why didn't Klaus die after breaking the curse when she's still alive. Elijah once told her that doppelganger had to die in order for Klaus to break his curse. Even though Klaus is a thousand years old, isn't breaking his curse a lot similar to a vampire's transition? Thinking back at the Smokey Mountains of that rabid hybrid they found with blood coming out of his eyes. That man is one of the hybrids that was already dying from his transition.

Come on, Elena, she sighs to herself as she tries to wrack her head for what was different about Klaus's transition and the other hybrids that had died.

Those hybrids were already a werewolf but when Klaus gave them his blood and killed them, he turned the wolves into hybrids. For vampires, the only way to survive the transition is by consuming human blood. Klaus must have given the hybrids human blood as well to complete their transition but that doesn't explain why the hybrids died because of human blood. A light bulb pops in her head. Again mentally she slowly repeats the ingredients that were used to break Klaus's curse. A witch to cast the spell. One finger out. A werewolf's heart. Another finger curled out. A vampire's heart. Another out.

And the  _human blood_  of the  _Petrova doppelganger_.

"He's gonna die, isn't he?" she hears Matt asks Bonnie. Elena walks out into the hall, making herself known.

"No," she says strongly, making both of them almost whip around to look at her incredulously. "Tyler's not going to die."

"Oh my god," the Bennett witch mutters before rushing at Elena, hugging her tightly. She returns her hug half-heartedly still focused on what she has in mind to save Tyler.

Bonnie pulls away to look over Elena as Matt puts a hand on her arm.

"Are you okay?" He asks in concern. Elena nods her head, making him sigh in relief.

"Klaus and Rebekah are held up at the moment. Stefan's watching over them for now while we save Tyler," she explains to them.

She looks at the two, who share hesitant looks to one another.

"Elena, there's something you need to know," Matt begins but she shakes her head with a small smile.

"It's okay, Matt. I heard what you told Bonnie," she confesses to him. Bonnie and Matt share disheartened looks. "In fact, I already have a way of saving Tyler."

Her eyes filled with conflicting emotions, Bonnie speaks up her fears, "Elena, you can't kill yourself. You can't just exchange your life for his. You shouldn't have to."

"I'm not," Elena says to her to her relief and confusion. "I have a better idea." She shoves her baseball bat towards Matt, who fumbles for a bit but takes the bat in his hands.

She proceeds to walk down the hallway with Bonnie and Matt following after her.

"Is this blood?" Matt asks in alarm and Bonnie looks to see the former football player, examining the baseball bat and sure enough, the bat has blood on it.

"Not mine," Elena answers over her shoulder as she takes out her phone.

"Did Tyler bring his phone with him?" She quickly asks Bonnie as she dials her phone.

"I think so," the witch answers slowly as the doppelganger is already on the phone.

Elena hears the phone ring and she waits for him to pick up. But Tyler's phone still isn't picking up. So she ends the phone call, ready to repeat her actions when Bonnie grabs her arm.

"Hey, wait a minute," she tells the confused doppelganger. "What is that?" Bonnie's eyes are fixed on Elena's forearm where her sleeve is rolled up.

She follows Bonnie's eyes to find a faded tattoo. She's so surprised that she acts quickly. She rolls up her sleeve up further to closely examine it.

Unlike the tattoos on her legs, this one encompasses around half of her forearm to her inner elbow. It's a pretty harlequin diamond pattern of red and black colors. Even though the discovery of a new tattoo in front of her friends goes against her initial idea of keeping her transformation a secret, Elena can't help but admire the tattoo around her arm.

"When did you get this?" Bonnie asks her while Matt comes over to look as well.

"It looks old," he notes how her tattoo has faded color. Both him and Bonnie look at her in question.

But Elena manages to snap out of her thoughts as the ringtone of her phone interrupts them. She looks at her phone to see Tyler's name flashing on the screen and quickly answers the call.

"Hello?" Elena asks and relief hits her as she hears a familiar feminine voice.

"Caroline?" When she says her name, both Matt and Bonnie's head shoots up. "Oh my god, are you okay? Where are you?"

Caroline quickly reassures them of her well-being but Tyler isn't doing so well. She informs them that they're in one of the science teacher's rooms. After telling Caroline and Tyler of Klaus and Rebekah's whereabouts, the friends agree to meet up. Not long after ending their call, the three friends make their way over to Tyler and Caroline. It's a few minutes later before Elena, Matt, and Bonnie reach them.

When they finally see the couple, it's clear from the beaded sweat on his face that Tyler doesn't have a lot of time left.

"Okay, we're going to have to do this quickly," Elena tells Tyler and Caroline.

"Right here?" Matt says incredulously while Caroline carefully places Tyler down on his knees.

"There's no time," Elena responds, taking out her keys.

"What are you doing?" Caroline asks in hesitant confusion. But Elena easily answers her question by digging one of her keys in her hand, dragging it across to make a deep cut.

Everyone recoils in disgust and shock as Elena only hisses in pain, dropping her keys.

"Hold out your hand," she orders Tyler, who does as she asks.

She puts her bleeding hand over his, clenching it into a fist. She grits her teeth as her pain increases while blood drops into Tyler's hands. Caught off guard, Tyler almost pulls his hand back but Elena grabs him by his wrist to hold him in place. To his surprise, he can't seem to shake her off. Though considering the circumstances, he's too weak to stand on his own.

"Elena," Bonnie shouts in surprise.

"Elena, what are you doing?" Matt demands her while said doppelganger remains calm.

"Tyler needs to drink my blood. It's the only way for him to survive," she explains.

Before her friends freak out, even more, Elena elaborates, "Klaus drank my blood in order to break his curse. To become a hybrid, he needed doppelganger blood so why can't it be the same for other hybrids."

"But the original witch," Matt starts hesitantly at which Elena is quick to interrupt him.

"Why should we trust her? She told you that I have to die. How do we know she's telling the truth though? Maybe she wants to make sure Klaus never creates hybrids. Think about it. Why would the original witch who cursed Klaus want to help him now?" she challenges Matt, who along with everyone else is speechless.

Switching her focus onto Tyler, she stops squeezing her injured hand and squeezes his wrist gently.

"Tyler, I know you are scared. But you  _need_  to drink," she says softly to him, their eyes locked. Elena's eyes are pleading him to trust in her.

Caroline cuts in with a resounding, "No." While shaking her head, making her own pleads to her boyfriend. The doppelganger snaps her eyes up to look at her blonde vampire friend.

"Caroline, even if he doesn't drink my blood, he's going to die," she stresses the last few words in her sentence to accentuate her point.

Everyone's eyes dart back to Tyler, who looks up at his girlfriend then down at the blood in his hand. His face is tense, showing his pain and conflict. But Elena is hopeful and triumphant when Tyler starts raising his shaking hand. She internally chants in her head that her theory needs to work as his lips touch her blood.

Everyone but Elena flinch when Tyler chokes and his body jerks slightly as if he's about to spit back up the blood. She watches in fascination as his body jerks again more wildly and he collapses onto his side.

"Tyler," Caroline cries out in worry, taking a step toward her boyfriend's convulsing form.

Her eyes flick up to look at the blonde vampire as Tyler begins to yell in pain, his hands coming to either side of his head. As Bonnie and Matt skitter back from their transitioning friend, Elena jumps to her feet.

She spins outward and kicks out her leg.

Caroline lets out a surprised sound when Elena's foot makes contact with her stomach. The force of her kick has the young vampire slam her back into the lockers and away from Tyler.

Elena makes her way over to Caroline in a few long strides and harshly throws her back into the lockers with an arm held across the blonde's upper chest.

The doppelganger grunts as the blonde react with hurt etched on her features, struggling to be freed but not wanting to hurt her friend.

"Sorry, Care. Nothing personal," she says as the blonde struggles even more.

Matt and Bonnie stare between the duo and their convulsing friend in shock and worry.

Another loud yell from Tyler cuts in and the two women look back.

He's now on his hands and knees, body trembling while the veins in his arms and neck are pulsing out of his skin. He wheezes and pants, his muscles tense as more sweat appears on his skin. Finally, Tyler whips up his head with a snarl while everyone looks at him with mixed looks of shock, awe, and relief.

Where his brown eyes used to be, there is now amber iris' with the signature pulsing veins under his eyes. His snarling mouth reveals double fangs while the vein on his forehead is pulsating.

He pants, baring his teeth with a growl as his pain fades away but his hybrid visage remains.

Elena's seen a vampire's true self but never a hybrid's. The rabid one she met in the mountains doesn't count either. She only saw him transform into wolf form and witnessed his enhanced strength and speed. Plus, when Klaus broke his curse, Elena was dead at the time so she never saw his hybrid visage either.

She releases her grip on Caroline, who has relaxed and stayed where she is, speechless.

Elena gives a delighted chuckle and turns to face Tyler, who's staring at her with his amber eyes. She takes a few steps before crouching to his level. A satisfied smile plasters her face.

She coolly looks over her shoulder at her friends.

"Ding, dong," she starts to sing. "The hybrid isn't dead." She chuckles lowly again, showing her teeth as her smiles grow wider.

_But a witch is_ , she thinks to herself as she reminds herself of the original witch. A witch, who threatened the wrong bitch.

However, Matt, Bonnie, and Caroline stare at the red head in part concern and confusion. As Elena's chuckles continue, the sound of her amusement creeps her friends out and some even shudder as her laughter sent chills down their spine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ooh, la la. We are now seeing more of Elena's "Harley" persona coming out. We'll be seeing more of her in the future.  
> I'm sorry if there aren't a lot of details these past few chapters. But I think it's because I'm sort going off the plot in the TVD universe. However, I hope these chapters are to your liking. I've worked really hard on it.
> 
> On another note, I am so sorry for keeping you all hanging for almost a year now. I literally got stuck in school and work. I had personal family issues that also took over which resulted in a lot of stress and some depression that literally turned my life upside down. But things are settling down right now.
> 
> Another reason why I haven't updated is that I had writer's block and lack of ideas for this story in the long run. Like the pathways towards what I already set out for this story. Either way, I am back, updates may be sporadic. But I'll do my best to give you guys new chapters when I can!
> 
> See ya!


	8. Chapter Eight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am back with another chapter! Got enough inspiration to finish a future chapter and edit this one before posting it.
> 
> I'm not too sure how I feel about this chapter and the next couple ones. Mostly because this was around the time that I started getting writer's block so some parts may seem awkward or rushed. But believe me, I'm doing as much editing as I can for these chapters so that it has a somewhat similar writing style as the previous ones.
> 
> I hope you guys like this chapter. It also gives a miniscule idea of the plotline that I have in store for Elena's "Harley" backstory with the Joker.
> 
> Enjoy!

It's many hours later at 8 o'clock in the morning. Back at Mystic Falls High School where the parking lot and school buildings are now flooded with students. Sun shines above them as Elena, Caroline, and Bonnie stand outside the parking lot whilst staring at the school. Their initial hype for senior year is significantly tampered down after the events that went down on Senior Prank Night.

After Tyler had officially become a hybrid, the group of friends made to walk away. They were relieved that the nightmare is finally over.

Though their relief lasted shortly when they realize that Klaus and Rebekah returned, having overpowered and compelled Stefan to obey the hybrid and turn his emotions off as payback.

She doesn't fully remember what happens next only what her friends have told her. Rebekah knocked the doppelganger unconscious. Once Klaus finally got his answer from how to make more hybrids after seeing Tyler, he transported Elena to the hospital where he compelled a nurse to draw blood from her.

From that point, Elena remembers waking up in the hospital and dazed with a spotty memory when the nurse moved to inject something into her IV.

_ She screams as rough hands hold onto her tightly. She desperately tries to catch a glimpse of her capturers. _

_ She struggles wildly as her still damp hair from the river whips around her. _

_ She breaks out of their grip, throwing out punches and kicks as low, baritone curses and yells surround her. She can't make out faces only voices. _

_ Elena is then forcibly tied down, the muscles in her arm and legs straining taut against the restraints. _

_ The feeling of something shoved up her nose and down her throat hurt, has left her unable to scream. _

By the time she finally wrenched her mind out of the past, the compelled nurse was already unconscious on the floor.

Flustered and in a panic, the doppelganger left the body of the woman alone in the hospital room. She staggered a bit from however much blood was taken from her but she managed to find the hospital exit.

She didn't register anything. She couldn't, her mind still trapped in her latest memory. She even went as far as attacking Damon when he found her distressed form. But soon reality crashed down on her and she stopped attacking him to his relief. Damon took Elena back to the Salvatore boarding house once she calmed down.

Back to the present, Elena sighs. With a clear and calm mind, she's able to think more clearly about the memory. Though now she's left feeling uncomfortable whenever she remembers it, rubbing her throat. Although she can't make out any specific details, Elena believes that memory occurred after her capture from the vigilante in black. It's not a happy memory and based on the memories she can recall during her time in Arkham, it did not happen then. Her latest memory has left her with more questions. But this time about how she returned to Mystic Falls and who did this to her.

For the rest of day, drama ensues. Stefan keeps following her around and acts aggressively towards almost everyone around him. Rebekah enrolled in her school which has her shifting her jaw in remembrance of the vampire knocking her out. Before the traditional start of the school year bonfire party, she and her friends met up in Alaric's classroom after school. They came up with a plan to distract Rebekah to subdue Stefan and lock him up to flip his humanity switch back on.

However, unknown to her friends, Elena has another plan.

Sometime during the day, a spark lit up in her brain when the annual school bonfire was brought up. She decided to change things up and dress up her outfit for the bonfire. She exchanged her boring black tank top for a dressy, black floral crop top with mesh long sleeves. The floral pattern on her top has blue and pink flowers, brightening her shirt's dark background. Also, she applied dark red lipstick on her lips. Her eyes are rimmed with eyeliner and dark eyeshadow is on her eyelids.

When she finished her outfit, she appraises herself in the public restroom mirror with pride and excitement. Elena pauses as a sensation washes over her.

She's feeling … nostalgic? Comforted?

Her eyes flitters away from her reflection and down to the sink. The light buzzing noise in the bathroom gets drowned out of her ears as black spots appear before her eyes.

She grabs onto sink for balance as discomfort stirs in her stomach, spreading throughout her body.

One hand flies up to grasp her head as loud whispers came to her vicinity. She lets out a short whimper as her eyes shut and open, darting around her to find the source.

"Stop," she pleads quietly to the unseen whispers but they continue, growing louder.

She grasps her wavy hair with both hands as the senseless whispers sent shivers throughout her body. She hunches in herself, feeling like she's being caged in even though there's no one else in the restroom.

"Shut up!" She shouts at the whispers, starting to get angry and desperate for the whispers to stop. The light in the public restroom grows brighter.

"Shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up," she chants. She cries out when the pain in her head grows stronger instead of receding.

"SHUT UP!" She screams.

The light bulb shatters from above. Broken glass showers the restroom and she lunges out of the way in time, her back flat against the wall.

Her breath is haggard and her wild eyes are wide open. For a moment, she gives time to evaluate the now dark restroom. The light bulb is shattered with its broken glass all over the floor. She realizes some of the mirrors have cracks on them.

Fear and confusion fill her as she tries to make sense of what just happened. But her fear overrules her and she flees out of the public restroom.

Unknown and unseen to Elena, a woman stands in the bathroom. Her gaze unwavering as she watches the doppelganger run away.

The teenager runs through the school hallways, uncaring of whoever she passes and runs into. She never stops until she pushes open the school entrance doors.

She halts, taking a small step back to gather bearings. Only to find her legs feel weak. She lifts one foot forward and stumbles around in her sneakers.

Elena feels a tinge of pain in her head.

" _How long have you been in here?" Elena asks the green haired man, who stares intensely at her with a small grin._

" _Oh," he sighs almost dreamily as he starts swaying around the room. "'How long', she asks." He giggles as his drifts to her own through the glass window "That is the question. How_ long _have I graced this_ dump _with my presence, you ask?" He reiterates her question to her with exaggeration and she remains absolute, still staring at him with curious eyes._

" _Over a hundred," he suddenly says._

" _A hundred days?" she asks confusedly but the man furiously shakes his head._

" _A hundred_ times _," he corrects her, almost hissing at her. "I play my tricks here and out there but the Bat always brings me back."_

_ Understanding dawns on her even though she doesn't recognize who is "the bat". _

" _This isn't your first time at Arkham," she states rather than questions him._

_ He hums. "Clever, clever little doll." She tilts her head as she ponders over his statement. _

" _How did you do it?" He pauses to look at her._

" _Escape Arkham." she clarifies her question to him._

_ His red lips twist into a wide smile. _

" _I'm glad ya asked. You see, Ms. Gilbert," she almost rolls her eyes when the older man starts to act like her teacher and call her by her last name "it's never about escaping. You must have patience."_

_ She waits expectantly for him to elaborate but he says nothing else. _

" _That's it," she says doubtfully with an arched eyebrow. "It's not about escaping, but patience?"_

_ Suddenly Elena lets out a snort and looks at the man in amusement. "You, have patience? Have you seen your temper?" _

_ He gives her a small glare and Elena doesn't back down. Rather she sends him a little smirk as his reaction proves true to her statement. _

" _Patience, Elena," he starts with his usual address to her which has her give a little smile "goes beyond my temperament. Sometimes you just need a_ little _bit of patience to play your tricks. Why attack the quiet one in here when others are doing bad things out_ there _?" He starts walking towards her. "While they play with all the other kids in the playground, you plan. You tell your friends your plan and then when your enemy is at their weakest." He throws himself into the door, making a loud banging noise and she jumps in surprise._

" _Bang," he whispers, his eyes locked on hers. "He's dead."_

_ She stares at him for a moment, her heart still rapidly racing in her chest. She swallows back her nerves and takes a small step toward him. _

" _Would you kill me?" she quietly asks him and he stills, his smile froze on his face._

_ She asks him again, "If I'm your enemy, would you kill me?" _

_ Elena stares at him as her question challenges him. His smile is now completely gone as he returns to looking at her intensely. _

_ She takes one step toward him and another until the two are almost touching the door between them, barring any physical contact. The heat growing in her belly flames hotter than ever and a part of her wishes nothing is keeping them separated. From the heated look, she spies, growing in his own eyes, he wants the same. _

Elena places a hand on her forehead to balance herself but she's quickly thrown back into another memory.

" _J," she breathes out as she feels his nose skim the side of her neck._

_ One arm is wrapped around her waist and his free hand rests on her right arm. She swallows in anticipation and nervousness. She lets out a haggard breath as their proximity to each other heightens the hot tension. _

_ How he's out of his cell is the last thought in her mind. For the first time since that day in the hallway, they are in the same room. There's no door separating them. She lifts her left hand and reaches behind her. She feels the sleek yet surprisingly soft texture of his green hair. _

" _How?" She breathes out as he makes a low growl in response to her touch._

_ Elena isn't given an answer. Abruptly she's spun around to face the older man and his mouth comes crashing down on hers. _

_ She tenses up in surprise but soon the heat between them distracts her and she succumbs to its whims into J's embrace. _

_ His kiss isn't like her ex-boyfriend Matt's, who is sweet, gentle yet unsure. J's kiss is rough, wild, and calculated seeing as the man sure must have the experience under his belt. His hands now gripping her tightly and somehow she has gotten her hands on his shoulders. _

_ She gives a little jerk as she feels him lift her up in his arms and drops them on the therapist chair. _

Elena cries out as a flood of memories came pouring in as if a hot poker is playing surgeon with her brain. Despite how pleasurable the memories are, it still didn't ease her screeching migraine.

She lets out a rough breath as the pain finally eases up. Her mind no longer being drilled non-stop with memories. She straightens up her posture, using the wall next to her to support her balance. Despite the pain she just went through, Elena senses some sort of high from her memories of J.

The sound of music and joyful laughter fills her ears. She opens her eyes which she didn't notice that was closed, to begin with, and looks over at the tree line. Elena had to blink a few times to verify that she's seeing the dim light coming from the bonfire as well as some figures of many teenagers.

She can't explain what happens next. A wave of new emotions washes over her. She pushes herself off the wall.

She's not in reality yet she's not dead. She can't feel her surroundings. Not the cool air. Not the feel of the cold brick wall on her hand. Elena is consumed with the residue left behind her memories: heat, passion, and freedom.

Her lips curl into a devious smirk while the doppelganger makes her way to the party.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So is Elena "Elena" now? Or is she Elena "Harley? …
> 
> Oh well! You'll find out after the next chapter.
> 
> Next chapter is going to be a bit of a filler as a flashback to Elena's time in Gotham.

**Author's Note:**

> What do you think? So far, I think we're up to a good start.
> 
> R&R please! With constructive criticism as always.


End file.
